British Indian relative’s family shell-shocked as elderly couple killed

LONDON: A British Indian relative of an elderly Indian couple killed on board the Air India flight has spoken of his anger with the airline, saying the fleet that Air India uses is terrible.

Tushar Joge and his family were shell-shocked on Thursday when the news came through that the flight their relatives were on had crashed.

Joge’s cousin’s in-laws — Vallabh Nagji Agheda, a former general manager of the electricity board in Gujarat, and his wife, Vinaben Vallabh Agheda, a housewife, both from Vadodara — were in seats 21E and 21F on the Boeing aircraft. Both in their 70s, they were to come to the UK to spend a few months with their youngest daughter, her husband, and their grandchildren who live in Reading. The daughter and her whole family were en route to Heathrow on Thursday evening to fly to India.

Joge’s cousin, and his wife, an IT engineer, had been due to go to Gatwick on Thursday night to pick them up. The elderly couple have three daughters and the other two live in Gujarat. The two sisters had rushed to Ahmedabad on Thursday with their husbands to get DNA tests done so their parents’ remains could be handed over.

“We are all absolutely shattered. We are all not able to digest this reality that we have lost them sadly — my cousin’s wife has lost both parents in just a single instant,” said Joge, getting emotional. “They are the closest relatives we have in the UK. We don’t have any other family here. We are all a close-knit family,” he said.

Maharashtra-born Joge, a British Indian social media influencer living in London, said though the couple were in their 70s they were enjoying the perfect retirement in Vadodara and spending time with all their grandchildren. “They were very fit and healthy and their life expectancy was beyond 90. They had huge love and affection from the whole family.”

He said there was a lot of British concern with Air India among the Indian diaspora in Britain at “the way they treat passengers like luggage”. “The queue management is pathetic and people in the Indian community say the Air India fleet is the most horrible one. The ex-Etihad Airways Boeing 777-300ER aircraft are pathetic – the ones running from Heathrow. Seats falling apart is the default – whether 787 or 777-300ER, these Boeing fleets are horrible. For any journey, life is more important. They have to have a policy of care. Half the infotainment systems don’t work and the food tables are even broken at times,” he added.