Authorities have released the names and photos of the pilots and cabin crew who were aboard the Air India flight that tragically crashed just moments after take-off.
Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, who had over 8,200 hours of flying experience, was identified as the pilot in command of the ill-fated Boeing 787 Dreamliner. First Officer Clive Kunder, a Mumbai native with 1,100 hours of flight time, served as co-pilot. Kunder received his training at the Paris Air Flight School in Florida, according to local reports.
The airline also confirmed the identities of several cabin crew members on board. Nganthoi Sharma Kongbrailatpam and Lamnunthem Singson were among those named. Senior crew members included Shradha Dhavan, Aparna Mahadik, Saineeta Chakravarti, Deepak Pathak, Maithili Patil, Irfan Shaikh, Roshni Songhare Rajendra, and Manisha Thapa.
Among the passengers, 40-year-old British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh is believed to be the sole survivor. Speaking from his hospital bed, Ramesh recalled the horrifying moments after Flight 171 went down in a residential area.
“Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly,” he said. “When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane everywhere. Someone grabbed me, put me in an ambulance, and brought me here.”
The aircraft was carrying 242 people at the time of the crash. Among them were 53 British nationals, 159 Indian citizens, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian. Eleven children were also on board, including two newborns.
so sad