Crew and Pilots Identified in Tragic Air India Crash After Takeoff

The identities of the pilots and cabin crew members

The identities of the pilots and cabin crew members who perished in the tragic Air India crash shortly after take-off have been released, casting a heartbreaking spotlight on the dedicated professionals lost in the disaster.

Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, an experienced pilot with over 8,200 flight hours, was at the controls of the ill-fated Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Flying alongside him was First Officer Clive Kunder from Mumbai, who had logged 1,100 hours and completed his training at the Paris Air Flight School in Florida.

The crash, which occurred moments after Flight 171 took off, has shocked the nation and the world.

Among the cabin crew confirmed on board were Nganthoi Sharma Kongbrailatpam and Lamnunthem Singson, along with senior members Shradha Dhavan, Aparna Mahadik, Saineeta Chakravarti, Deepak Pathak, Maithili Patil, Irfan Shaikh, Roshni Songhare Rajendra, and Manisha Thapa.

The flight was carrying 242 passengers, including 53 Britons, 159 Indian nationals, seven Portuguese citizens, and one Canadian. Tragically, the manifest also included 11 children two of them newborns.

Amid the wreckage, a glimmer of survival emerged. Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a 40-year-old British father seated in 11A, is believed to be the only survivor. Speaking from his hospital bed, he recounted the horror:

“Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise then everything went black. When I came to, there were bodies everywhere. I was scared. I stood up and ran. Debris was all around me. Someone pulled me into an ambulance, and I ended up here.”

The cause of the crash is under investigation, as families and the nation mourn the devastating loss of life. The world now turns its eyes to the brave individuals who served aboard that flight professionals who dedicated themselves to the safety of others and tragically became victims of an unforeseen catastrophe.