Ahmedabad, May 22 (IANS) Nearly a year after the Air India AI-171 plane crash in Ahmedabad, a relative of three victims has claimed that while searching for his family members inside the city Civil Hospital mortuary, he saw the body of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal seated in what he described as a “boxer position”, with his hand still on the aircraft controls.

Romin Vohra, a resident of Thasra village in Gujarat’s Kheda district, said he entered the mortuary on June 13, a day after the London-bound Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed shortly after take-off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.

The AI-171 flight, operating from Ahmedabad to London’s Gatwick Airport, crashed seconds after departure on June 12 after issuing a Mayday call to air traffic control, according to reports issued at the time.

The aircraft was carrying 242 people, including passengers and crew members. Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kunder were among those killed. In total, 260 people died, including 19 on the ground. There was only one survivor in the crash.

Vohra lost three members of his family in the disaster — his elder brother Parvez Vohra, 33; his niece Zuveriya Vahora, aged three years and eight months; and his maternal aunt Yasmin Vahra, 50.

Speaking in a detailed conversation nearly 11 months after the crash, Vohra said he had reached Civil Hospital within around 20 minutes of hearing about the accident as he was already in Ahmedabad at the time.

“At first, I was not searching for bodies. I was searching for survivors. I ran across the hospital in very difficult conditions looking for my family. By night, we came to know everyone had died,” he told IANS.

Vohra, who said he works in the paramedical field as a laboratory technician and had volunteered at Civil Hospital during the Covid-19 period, claimed he obtained permission to enter the mortuary because of his contacts and medical background.

He said he remained inside the mortuary between approximately noon and 2 p.m. on June 13, where he saw multiple rooms filled with bodies and body parts.

“There were five rooms and all five were filled with bodies, one over another. I opened the coverings and searched body after body hoping I would find my brother, the child or my aunt,” he said.

He described seeing severed body parts, burnt remains and victims from both inside the aircraft and on the ground.

“There was the severed head of a small child, maybe one-and-a-half or two years old. I even lifted the earrings to look closely. I saw a pregnant woman whose saree had not burnt but whose stomach had burst open. I saw a mother wrapped around her child and both were completely burnt,” he claimed.

According to Vohra, while moving through the mortuary he noticed a separate table in a corner where he said Captain Sabharwal’s body had been placed.

“I saw Captain Sumeet Sabharwal sir’s body separately on one side. The body was in a sitting position. His legs were bent, one hand was straight and there was a steering control in his hand. He was wearing a white shirt, blue trousers and a tie,” he told IANS.

He claimed the back portion of the body had suffered burn injuries while the front side remained comparatively identifiable.

“I belong to the medical field, so according to body structure, age and build, I could identify the difference between the two pilots,” he said, referring to Captain Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kunder.

He added, “Kunder sir was younger, while Sumeet sir was older.”

Vohra said he believed the captain had attempted to save the aircraft until the final moments.

“My main point is that Captain Sumeet Sabharwal sir tried till the end to save the flight and the passengers. If someone wanted to die intentionally, he would not continue holding the steering,” he asserted.

He repeatedly rejected suggestions that the pilot intentionally caused the crash.

“I have been saying since June 12 that the pilot did not do this. No person would kill so many people along with himself. Even if someone dies, they do not take hundreds of others with them,” he said.

Vohra said he had not initially spoken publicly because he did not realise the significance of what he had seen.

He said the issue came up during later conversations with social activist Kuldip Ishrani, also known as Kaviraj.

“I did not know this could become such an important point. Only later did I realise my statement mattered,” he said.

He told IANS that if the final investigation report attributes the crash to pilot error, the families would challenge it legally.

“If the final report says pilot error, then we will challenge the report as per our lawyers’ guidance,” he said.

Vohra is part of a group of nearly 200 families seeking access to the black box data.

Preliminary findings released months after the crash referred to confusion inside the cockpit after fuel supply switches reportedly moved to cutoff positions shortly after take-off.

Cockpit voice recordings reportedly captured one pilot asking, “Why did you cutoff?”, while the other replied, “I did not do so.”

Vohra said he signed panchnama documents for seven bodies at Meghani Nagar police station after being requested by officers present at the mortuary.

“If someone asks for proof that I was there, my signature is in the panchnama. I identified bodies and signed as a witness,” he said.

He claimed very few people were allowed inside the mortuary at the time.

“Even being allowed to enter was a big thing because most people were not allowed inside,” he claimed.

According to Vohra, his brother’s body was handed over on June 14 at around 6 p.m., his aunt’s remains on June 15 at around 3 p.m., and the child’s remains on June 19.

“I had decided I would not leave without taking the child with me,” he said.

He alleged that families spent days sleeping outside the hospital while waiting for DNA identification and documentation.

“We slept on footpaths. One night police beat us with sticks because politicians were expected to visit. For 10 days, we survived almost only on water,” he said.

Vohra said revisiting the crash site remained emotionally overwhelming.

“When I go there, my heartbeat increases,” he said.

Vohra noted that his sister-in-law had been nine months pregnant at the time of the crash and gave birth to a baby boy around 20 days after her husband’s death.

“My brother’s dream was to have a son because he already had two daughters. God gave him a son but took away the father,” he said.

He recalled that several relatives travelling on the flight were returning to London, where family members, including pregnant relatives, were living.

Vohra also said some victims’ families had approached the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) requesting participation in the probe, but were informed that the investigation remained under Indian jurisdiction.

The crash remains one of the deadliest aviation disasters in recent Indian aviation history.

Investigations involving Indian authorities and international aviation experts are continuing as the first anniversary of the disaster approaches on June 12.

–IANS

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