12/06/2025
Two residents of Manipur, Lamnunthem Singson and Nganthoi Sharma Kongbrailatpam were among the cabin crew members who lost their lives in the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad on Thursday (June 12) afternoon.
The aircraft was under the command of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, a Line Training Captain (LTC) with over 8,200 hours of flying experience, assisted by First Officer Clive Kunder, who had 1,100 hours flying experience.
Apart from Lamnunthem and Nganthoi, the cabin crew included senior members Shradha Dhavan and Aparna Mahadik.
The other cabin crew members were Saineeta Chakravarti, Deepak Pathak, Maithili Patil, Irfan Shaikh, Roshni Songhare Rajendra, and Manisha Thapa.
The aircraft was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which is a mid-size, twin-engine, wide-body jet airliner.
Known for its fuel efficiency, comfortable passenger experience, and innovative design features like large windows with electronic dimming, the aircraft first took flight on December 15, 2009.
Meanwhile, Ahmedabad police commissioner said no survivors were expected after the London-bound Air India flight with 242 people on board crashed just minutes after taking off from Ahmedabad Airport on Thursday afternoon.
"There appears to be no survivor in the crash," Ahmedabad police commissioner GS Malik was quoted as saying by the news agency AFP.
"And since the airplane has fallen on an area which was residential and had some offices, there are more casualties as well," he added.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft (AI171) crashed into the BJ Medical College hostel in Ahmedabad's Meghaninagar area, causing severe damage to buildings in the premises.
Eyewitness accounts and early rescue reports suggest that a number of medical students were inside the hostel mess at the time of the crash.
Several social media posts are claiming that many MBBS interns have lost their lives in the hostel mess.
The sudden impact and resulting explosion have caused massive structural damage and casualties both in the air and on the ground.