New Delhi, June 13 (IANS) A heart-wrenching tragedy struck a prominent Udaipur family as siblings Shubh Modi and Shagun Modi lost their lives in the devastating Air India crash in Ahmedabad on Thursday.

The brother-sister duo, children of marble businessman Sanjeev Modi, were aboard the ill-fated flight en-route to London as they had planned a vacation in UK.

Speaking to IANS, their relative Satish Bhandari said, “It is a devastating and heart breaking incident. The siblings had planned to tour London for a vacation. Shubh had done his B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from UK while his sister had completed her BA-BBA from PDEU, Gandhinagar. Who knew this would be their last journey?”

On being asked to comment on how they received this devastating news, he said, “They (brother-sister) were in Ahmedabad. Their grandmother called me when she saw this tragic news on television. We are still in shock.”

The incident has sent shockwaves across the country and the world and has invited a debate on the risks of air-travel, which is considered one of the safest travel modes across the spectrum.

Authorities continue to investigate the cause of the crash, as families across the country grapple with the aftermath of this devastating disaster.

The tragic incident has led to the death of all the passengers and crew members on board, barring one miracle survival.

Apart from the 241 people aboard the ill-fated aircraft who perished in the crash, many people on the ground are also feared killed as the Boeing plane crashed into a residential building and burst into a ball of flames.

According to several reports, the pilots reportedly gave a ‘Mayday’ (distress) call immediately after the takeoff, signalling a life-threatening emergency, but did not respond to subsequent calls made by the Airport Traffic Control.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Civil Aviation Minister and other high-profile leaders, administrators and others have reached the incident site and investigators are trying to recover the “black-box”.

Their recovery is expected to reveal crucial details about the crew’s ‘Mayday’ call, attempted recovery measures during those critical seconds after takeoff, along with other crucial details.

–IANS

sas/rad