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Air India crash: Cheerful family took last wefie in cabin moments before disaster

Air India crash: Cheerful family took last wefie in cabin moments before disaster

Air India crash: Cheerful family took last wefie in cabin moments before disaster
Dr Prateek Joshi (left) and his family were among the 241 Air India Flight AI171 passengers killed on June 12.
PHOTO: X/Cerfia

Amid the wreckage of Thursday's (June 13) devastating Air India crash is a story of hope turned heartbreak.

Just moments after takeoff from Ahmedabad in western India, two doctors and their three young children took a cheerful wefie onboard the ill-fated flight.

Dr Prateek Joshi, who held the camera, was working in London for some time, reported Indian media outlet NDTV. 

His wife, Dr Komi Vyas, who had been practising at a hospital in India, had resigned from her job and was relocating with their children — a pair of twin boys and a daughter, aged five and eight respectively — to join Dr Joshi and begin a new chapter in London as a family.

But the family were among the 241 passengers killed when the London-bound Air India Flight AI171, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, crashed seconds after take-off.

Speaking to NDTV, Dr Joshi's cousin said: "They left for Ahmedabad yesterday to take the flight to London.

"Prateek had come here just two days ago to take his wife and children with him. Several other members of both families went to see them off."

Dr Vyas' brother, Prabuddha, said that the couple were married for 10 years.

There were 242 passengers and crew on board the plane, including 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian.

In the worst aviation disaster in a decade, only one passenger, British national Vishwashkumar Ramesh, survived the crash.

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chingshijie@asiaone.com

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