All the 12 cabin crew members, including two pilots, on board the ill-fated London-bound Air India flight were killed in the Ahmedabad air crash on Thursday.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft (AI 171) with 230 passengers and 12 crew members crashed into the complex of a medical college moments after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel international airport in Ahmedabad on Thursday afternoon.
One person survived the crash, while 241 on board were killed.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff profiles the Air India crew members who died in the plane crash, nine of who hailed from Maharashtra.
Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, Flight Commander
Resident of Jal Vayu Vihar society in Mumbai's Powai, Captain Sabharwal was single and took care of his elderly father.
He had 8,200 hours of flying experience.
Captain Sabharwal's sister flew from Delhi to Mumbai as soon as news of the plane crash came in.
Clive Kunder, co-pilot
Clive was originally from Mangaluru but settled in Mumbai.
He lived in Borivali, north west Mumbai.
Clive had trained at Paris Inc, a Florida-based training institute and clocked 1,100 hours of flying experience.
Deepak Pathak, crew member
Flight attendant Deepak Pathak was a resident of Badlapur, a township in Thane district, and had been working for Air India for 11 years.
He had spoken to his mother and sister in the morning before takeoff.
Saineeta Chakravarty, crew member
Saineeta lived with her parents in the Juhu Koliwada area, north west Mumbai.
Her father, an asthma patient, was distraught at the news of the aircrash and could not believe she is no more.
Saineeta's mother still hopes she will return from her flight, even as neighbours consoled her.
Maithili Moreshwar Patil, crew member
The 24-year-old flight attendant was a resident of Nhava village in Panvel and studied at the T S Rahman Vidyalaya till Class 12 after which she enrolled in an aviation course.
Maithili got a job in Air India and was a source of inspiration for young girls from Nhava village.
She spoke to her father before her flight to London and promised to call him once she reached the city.
Roshni Rajendra Songhare, cabin crew and travel influencer
Roshni lived in Dombivli, a township in Thane district.
Roshni's Instagram account sky_loves_her had 54,000 followers.
Nganthoi Sharma Kongbrailatpam, cabin crew
Nganthoi Sharma Kongrabailatpam, a Meitei, hailed from Thoubal district of Manipur.
Her elder sister said Nganthoi called around 11:30 am on Thursday to tell her that she would be flying to London.
Nganthoi added that she would not be able to call for the next few days and would be back by June 15.
Lamnunthem Singson, cabin crew
She belonged to the Thadou community, part of the greater Kuki-Zo community.
Singson originally lived in Meitei-dominated Imphal but her family fled to Kuki-dominated Kangpokpi district after the Meitei-Kuki conflict erupted in May 2023.
Lamnunthem's mother, Nemneilhing Singson, said she made a last call to her stating that she was leaving Delhi for Ahmedabad to report for duty.
Aparna Mahadik, cabin crew
Aparna Mahadik was a resident of Goregaon, north west Mumbai, and a relative of Maharashtra Nationalist Congress Party President Sunil Tatkare, the MP from Raigad.
'Aparna is the daughter-in-law of my younger sister,' Tatkare said after her death.
Aparna's husband also works as a cabin crew with Air India.
Shraddha Dhavan, cabin supervisor
Shraddha Dhavan, 44, was a senior cabin supervisor and had been working with Air India for over two decades.
She did her MBA but chose to follow a career in aviation.
Irfan Shaikh, cabin crew
His family got a call from a family friend to inform them about the air crash.
Irfan's father Sameer Shaikh rushed to Ahmedabad and has since been in a state of shock.
Manisha Thapa, cabin crew
According to the Voice of Sikkim Web site, 'Manisha Thapa was a promising cabin crew member from the Gorkha community and a resident of Bihar. She was regarded as an inspiring figure among young professionals at Air India'"
An X tagged her picture and wrote, 'Lost my friend Manisha Thapa in the plane crash today. She was a Business Economics graduate and used to sit in the classroom next to mine and sometimes together in some common classes. Her smile, charm and energy was so elegant.'
'A few days ago she posted a clip where she wrote it was the first time she danced on stage. She looked so happy. Oh God, Why!'
© 2025