Source The guardian
AHMEDABAD — On the first anniversary of India’s deadliest aviation disaster in nearly three decades, bereaved families gathered near the capital of Gujarat on Friday for a somber candlelight vigil. One year after Air India Flight AI-171 plunged into a medical college hostel complex, those left behind say they are trapped in a state of suspended grief—insisting that no amount of financial compensation can replace the desperate need for answers.
“They want us to sign papers and move on, but how do you move on when you don’t know why your family died?” asked one relative attending a memorial conference organized by air safety experts and legal counsel in Ahmedabad. “We don’t want money. We only want justice.”
A Year of Tragic Uncertainty
On June 12, 2025, Flight AI-171—a London Gatwick-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner carrying 242 passengers and crew—lifted off normally from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. Just 32 seconds later, the aircraft crashed into the student hostels of Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College, roughly 1.7 kilometers from the runway.
The impact and subsequent 1,000°C inferno killed 241 people on board and 19 others on the ground, leaving behind a single survivor from the aircraft’s economy cabin.
Air India Flight AI-171: The TollCount
Total Fatalities260 (241 on board, 19 on the ground)
Injuries (Ground)67 seriously injured
Sole Survivor1 passenger (Seat 11A)
Aircraft TypeBoeing 787-8 Dreamliner
The Technical Mystery Behind the Crash
The frustration fueling the families’ demand for justice stems from a highly controversial preliminary report released by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) in July 2025.
According to flight data, three seconds after liftoff, both of the Dreamliner’s engine fuel control switches inexplicably moved from the “RUN” position to “CUTOFF” within a single second of each other. This cut the fuel supply and choked the engines of all thrust. Cockpit voice recordings captured a chilling exchange where one pilot asked why the fuel had been cut, only for the second pilot to reply that he had not touched the switches.
The revelation sparked intense speculation over two competing theories:
The Human Element: Early, informal assessments by some officials hinted at potential pilot error or deliberate cockpit action.
The Mechanical Element: Months after the crash, pilots on a different Air India Dreamliner reported a temporary fuel-switch latch malfunction during an engine start. While subsequent fleet checks showed no widespread design defects, the component was sent to Boeing headquarters for teardown analysis.
Compensation vs. Answers
As the AAIB issued an interim anniversary statement on Friday confirming that the probe has progressed into its “final analysis stage,” Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu expressed profound sorrow but confirmed the final report is still delayed.
In the meantime, the corporate response has moved faster than the legal one. Air India and its parent company, Tata Sons, have disbursed nearly ₹300 crore (around $36 million USD) in interim relief. The airline stated that 96% of families have received an initial ₹25 lakh payment, and 91% have accepted a ₹1 crore ex-gratia assistance package through a dedicated welfare trust.
However, the compensation process has drawn sharp criticism. A public dispute erupted recently when the daughter of a prominent victim—former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, who perished in the crash—alleged that grieving relatives were facing pressure to waive their legal rights to future litigation in order to secure final payouts.
Air India strongly denied the allegations, maintaining there is “absolutely no deadline or pressure” and that families are free to wait for the final investigation results.
“The purpose of an air crash investigation is to ensure it never happens again, not to shield corporations from liability,” noted an aviation legal consultant at Friday’s conference. “For these families, signing a waiver before knowing if the plane was fundamentally flawed feels like a betrayal of the dead.”
As the candles burned down near the crash site in Meghani Nagar, the sentiment among the families remained unyielding. Until the AAIB delivers a definitive answer as to why the engines went dark over Ahmedabad, true closure remains entirely out of reach.
