Families of Air India crash victims seek answers after report

For days, Imtiyaz Ali had been anxiously awaiting the findings of a preliminary report into last month’s Air India crash that killed his brother, sister-in-law, and their two young children.

When the report was finally released early on Saturday in India, he read it carefully – only to be disappointed by what he said “reads like a product description”.

“Other than the pilots’ final conversation, there’s nothing in it that really points to what caused the crash.”

He hopes more details will be made public in the months to come.

“This matters to us,” Ali said. “We want to know exactly what happened. It won’t change anything for us now, we continue grieving – just as we have since that day. But at least we’ll have some answers.”

The London-bound Air India flight 171 crashed into a suburban neighbourhood in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad shortly after take-off on 12 June, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 others on the ground.

A preliminary investigative report released on Saturday in India said fuel to the engines of the plane cut off just seconds after take-off. The circumstances around how or why that happened remain unclear.

The report said that in recovered cockpit voice recordings, one of the pilots can be heard asking “why did you cut off?” – to which the other pilot replied he “did not do so”.

A final report into the crash is expected in 12 months.

Shweta Parihar, 41, also wants answers. Her husband, Abhinav Parishar, 43, was on his way back to London. He was meant to fly later in the month but decided to come home early and ended up on the ill-fated flight.

She laments that no investigation will ever bring her husband back.

“For those of us that have lost loved ones, we’ve lost them, they are not coming back,” she said.

“What will they do in the investigation, tell us how it happened? The life of how many people, 250 passengers, what will they say, sorry? Everything is done, everything is finished.”

Parihar becomes emotional when she talks about the impact of the loss on her 11-year-old son Vihaan.

“He misses his dad badly,” she said tearfully. Vihaan tells her that he won’t fly Air India ever again.

Badasab Syed, 59, lost his brother, sister-in-law, and their two children in the crash.

He was hoping for answers from the preliminary report, but after watching the news, said he was left with more questions.

“The report mentions the pilots discussing who turned off fuel and a possible issue with the fuel control switch. We don’t know, what does that mean? Was this avoidable?”

Badasab Syed says his younger brother, Inayat Syed, 49 was the heart of the family. Losing him, his wife and children, has shattered the entire family. The grief has been especially difficult on his 83-year-old mother, Bibi Sab.

“Losing her son and grandchildren has made her weak. I think she is not able to even tell us how she feels,” he said.