GG News Bureau
Himatnagar, 14th June: For Payal Khatik, a young woman from Himatnagar, Gujarat, Thursday morning was meant to be the start of an extraordinary adventure. Full of excitement, she boarded an aeroplane for the first time in her life, embarking on a journey to the United Kingdom to pursue a Master’s degree in engineering and technology. Her family, including her father, a loading rickshaw driver, proudly noted she was the first in their family to ever travel abroad.
Relatives bid a fond farewell to their beloved daughter a little before 10 AM, confident she would reach London’s Gatwick Airport safely and excel in her studies. What followed, instead, was India’s worst aviation disaster in 15 years.
Air India flight AI-171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad. The tragedy claimed 274 lives, including Ms. Khatik and some on the ground, as the plane plummeted onto a medical college hostel. Only one passenger, from seat 11A, survived.
For Payal Khatik’s family – her father, mother, and several siblings – the ‘why’ of the crash perhaps matters less than the devastating reality. All they know is that she is gone, her death confirmed by DNA analysis. “After completing her college, she stayed with us… she wanted to study further in London. So we took out loans to support her education there…” her father, Suresh Khatik, told ANI. He had taken those loans hoping Ms. Khatik’s future job would help pay them back and lift the family out of poverty. Now, they face an uncertain future with no clear way to repay.
“She was the first member of our family to travel abroad… she was going to London,” her cousin, Bharat Chauhan, told IANS. “She completed her BTech from Udaipur and was going for MTech. But this tragic incident happened. Our family is deeply saddened…”
Payal, originally from Udaipur in Rajasthan, was described as “a very good girl” by Sushila Pathak, a family friend whose son she had been tutoring for the past six years. Payal’s coaching income played a crucial role for her family. “The financial condition of the family is not good. Payal used to take care of the family by giving tuition to the students,” another relative told ANI, highlighting the significant gap her loss will leave.
The exact cause of the crash remains unclear, though the black box has been recovered and forensic analysis of the data is ongoing. What is known is that 36 seconds into the flight, the plane failed to gain altitude. A widely shared online video shows the struggling AI-171 falling onto a residential area bordering the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport before exploding in a ball of fire.
