Nearly ten months after the devastating Air India AI171 crash, families of those who lost their lives have made a direct appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding one thing above all: answers. In a letter sent on Saturday, around 30 bereaved families from Gujarat urged the Prime Minister to ensure the release of the plane’s cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and black box data, saying they deserve to know the real cause of the tragedy.
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The Boeing 787-8, which was en route from Ahmedabad to London, crashed minutes after take-off on June 12, 2025, crashed into a medical college residential complex and burst into flames. The disaster claimed the lives of 260 people, including 241 passengers and crew members, and 19 people on the ground. Despite an initial report submitted last year, families said the lack of clear answers only deepened their grief, according to a report by news agency PTI.
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“I feel like my house is completely empty now,” said Nilesh Purohit, who lost his 24-year-old son in the accident. “We don’t want money, we just want to know what happened.” Echoing similar sentiments, families requested that if the data could not be made public, it should at least be shared with them privately. Copies of the letter were also sent to aviation authorities, including the AAIB and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, as well as Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, the report noted.
Besides demanding transparency, families also cited ongoing struggles, ranging from difficulty accessing victims’ personal belongings and poor communication by authorities. Kinjal Patel, who lost her mother in the accident, said the website set up by the airline for relatives of victims to retrieve their belongings was not user-friendly. “There are more than 25,000 items listed, but the pictures are not clear. It is almost impossible to find anything,” she said, according to PTI.
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Some described the process as overwhelming and insensitive, especially for those unfamiliar with digital systems. “There is only one email ID, and responses take up to 15 days,” said Romain Vora, who lost three family members – his mother, brother and daughter. “Many people in the villages don’t even know how to use email.”
Air India has not responded to this message yet.
(With inputs from PTI)
