logo
‘Aadmi Ek Khilona Hai': Anju Sharma's WhatsApp Status Before Boarding Doomed Air India Flight

‘Aadmi Ek Khilona Hai': Anju Sharma's WhatsApp Status Before Boarding Doomed Air India Flight

News1813-06-2025

Last Updated:
On Thursday, Anju Sharma was flying to London on an Air India flight to visit her daughter. After hearing of the crash, her family immediately left for Ahmedabad
A pall of gloom has descended on Ram Sharan Majra village in Haryana's Kurukshetra after news broke that Anju Sharma, a local resident, was among those who died in the tragic Ahmedabad plane crash. Her sudden death in the devastating incident has left the entire village in shock and mourning.
The family is in shock. However, Anju Sharma's parents were initially not informed about their daughter's death. Notably, the Sharma's family had been living in Vadodara for many years. On Thursday, Anju was on her way to London to visit her elder daughter.
Anju's father, Jagdish, a retired Indian Army officer, is bedridden due to a brain haemorrhage, while her mother suffers from a heart condition. Currently, her uncle, sister, and brother-in-law are meeting people who are coming to offer their condolences. DNA of Anju Sharma's younger daughter was taken in Vadodara and has matched.
Anju's brother-in-law said he chose not to inform her parents immediately to avoid shocking them. 'But now, everything is over," he added.
The family remembers Anju Sharma as a cheerful and warm-hearted person who held everyone together. Her sudden demise has left them all in deep shock.
After boarding the flight, Anju Sharma made a video call to her sister, Neelu Sharma, through a WhatsApp group she had created for the entire family. Sadly, Neelu couldn't answer the call—a moment she says she will regret for the rest of her life. Anju, the eldest of eight sisters, was deeply loved by her family. The relatives are now preparing to travel to Vadodara for her last rites.
Anju Sharma had posted the popular song ' Aadmi Ek Khilona Hai ' as her last WhatsApp status. A resident of Ramsaran Majra village in Ladwa, Kurukshetra district, she had come to her maternal home on May 26. On Thursday, Anju was flying to London on an Air India flight to visit her daughter, Nimmi Sharma. As soon as the family received news of the crash, they left for Ahmedabad.
Uncle Balkishan Sharma, in tears, said, 'She was the son of the family, not a daughter. She managed everything." He added that several family members were unwell, so they hadn't been told immediately. 'Even I was informed about Anju's death after a long time," he said.
Younger sister Neelu Sharma, grief-stricken, said, 'It feels like we've lost our mother. We can't tell our parents — they may not survive the shock. We are eight sisters, and she had been living in Gujarat for the past 30 years. She called from the flight for the last time, and I couldn't even see her face."
'She was the pillar of our family," Neelu added, 'the son of the house."
However, on Friday afternoon, when villagers finally broke the news to Anju's parents, it led to scenes of heartbreak and chaos.
First Published:
June 13, 2025, 18:19 IST

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Hong Kong-Bound Air India Flyers Complain Of 'Noises From Emergency Door', Airline Responds
Hong Kong-Bound Air India Flyers Complain Of 'Noises From Emergency Door', Airline Responds

News18

time2 hours ago

  • News18

Hong Kong-Bound Air India Flyers Complain Of 'Noises From Emergency Door', Airline Responds

Last Updated: While Air India did confirm the news, it said that there was no emergency-like situation due to this incident. Days after AI-171 crashed in Ahmedabad claiming the lives of 241 people, the passengers of Air India's Delhi to Hong Kong flight complained that the flight they travelled in was damaged internally and noises were coming from the emergency door. According to sources, the incident occurred on June 1, when Air India flight AI-314 took off from Delhi for Hong Kong. The passenger informed that despite complaining, the crew did not take any action and placed a paper napkin on the emergency door. Nearly an hour after the takeoff, one of the passenger noticed that the noises were coming from the emergency door and the internal part was weak. However, the flight landed safely in Hong Kong. Air India Issues Statement While Air India did confirm the news, it said that there was no emergency-like situation due to this incident. The airlines stated that the flight went under multiple checks before it too-off. 'An aircraft undergoes multiple engineering checks before it is cleared for flight operations according top priority to safety issues. Air India flight AI314 from Delhi to Hong Kong on June 1, 2025 went through said process before it took flight," Air India said in a statement. the airlines said that a hissing sound started emanating from the decorative door panel mid-flight, and after assessing that there was no risk to safety, crew took action to alleviate the noise. 'After landing in Hong Kong airport, the aircraft underwent checks by the engineering team. All safety parameters were found to be in compliance and the aircraft was cleared for service. There was no such noise during the return flight AI315 from Hong Kong to Delhi. We would like to reiterate that the safety of our customers and crew remains top priority," the statement added. First Published: June 21, 2025, 08:35 IST

When airlines treat the skies as monopoly, passengers pay in blood
When airlines treat the skies as monopoly, passengers pay in blood

Hans India

time3 hours ago

  • Hans India

When airlines treat the skies as monopoly, passengers pay in blood

It's been a week since Air India Flight AI 171, a Dreamliner enroute to London Gatwick, crash-landed within seconds of take-off in Ahmedabad—killing nearly 270 people in what is now the deadliest disaster in Indian civil aviation history. And yet, the cause of the crash remains cloaked in bureaucratic silence and corporate deflection. Officials familiar with the investigation into the crash suspect that a sudden power failure shortly after take-off may have brought down the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which crashed into a medical hostel building after gaining an altitude of only 625 feet. According to an aviation expert and YouTuber, Captain Steve, in such an eventuality, the plane would fall pretty quickly and nothing would be working for the pilots to guide the plane back to the ground. When nothing else works, the ram air turbine drops out automatically at the back of the airplane' which is like a standard small boat engine that sits in the water. 'It's got a little propeller on the front of it, and it starts spinning like crazy. It works and gives me hydraulics and electric so that I can run the radios, I can lower the landing gear, and I can manoeuvre the airplane safely to a landing.' We will have to wait for the final report to know if the flight had the RAT system or not and was power failure the real reason for the crash. For now, all we know are heart-wrenching fragments. Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and co-pilot Clive Kundar perished with their passengers. Vishwakumar Ramesh, seated in 11A, survived by a twist of fate, though his younger brother in 11J did not. In another tragic corner, a doctor's infant son clings to life in an ICU after the fireball consumed their residential block. DNA identification is underway, bodies are being handed over, and prayers offered. But the larger and grimmer question looms: Who will take responsibility for this catastrophe? A culture of silence, not safety: Air India continues to report an alarming number of technical snags. On June 19, AI 388 made an emergency return to Delhi after take-off, due to expired emergency slides and gas canisters. How was such an aircraft cleared for flight? We are told a 'blind check' was done—a cockpit drill where a pilot, eyes closed, locates controls under guidance. But that doesn't explain how expired safety equipment made it onto a passenger aircraft. This is not a pilot memory that is being tested—this is ignoring basic maintenance. Worse still is the information vacuum. There are unconfirmed reports of 29 technical snags in 35 days, yet there is no official statement or denial from either Air India or the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Just silence. Aviation experts appear every night on TV, advising patience and reiterating that airplanes are 'systems of systems'—digital engines, hydraulics, computers. They urge us to await the investigation. But why should public trust hinge on the black box, when the entire system has gone dark? The DGCA—the very body mandated to enforce aviation safety—is conveniently hiding behind the pretext of an 'ongoing investigation.' But why isn't it answering the real question even in the aftermath of such a colossal failure: if red flags were raised about Air India's deteriorating safety standards since the Tata takeover, why was the airline allowed to operate unchecked until it cost 270 lives?' Even a semblance of transparency would have helped rebuild public trust. Instead, all we get is cold corporate condolence. A vague assurance that a '360-degree investigation' will cover human error, technical failure, even sabotage. But no one—neither the Union Civil Aviation Minister, nor the DGCA, nor Air India, and neither the owners at the Tata Group—is willing to publicly own up the failure. Crisis management or image management? As usual, PR was quicker to act than protocol. Tata Group Chairman N Chandrasekaran gave ana exclusive, soft-focus interview to a national TV channel, circulated promptly by a PR agency. Every line sounded rehearsed. He was asked where he was when he heard the news. 'I was in my office in Bombay… I rushed to Ahmedabad,' he said, emotionally. He grieved with the victims. He promised a trust fund. He ruled out engine failure, hinted that maintenance schedules were in place. But he wasn't asked the real questions: Why were no aircraft grounded after the crash? Has a complete audit of all Dreamliners been ordered? Why not pause operations, inspect every aircraft, and restore public confidence before another tragedy unfolds? What could have been a moment for transformational leadership appeared to have become a scripted corporate monologue. The opposition: Rhetoric without responsibility: Shockingly, even the opposition has missed the mark. Instead of demanding tough questions from regulators, they're busy seeking a special Parliament session to indulge in hollow sloganeering—yet another performance of fakery and optics, perhaps timed for Bihar's upcoming elections. Where is the concern for aviation safety? Where is the pressure on the Civil Aviation Ministry? When disasters happen, only families grieve. The rest— politicians, bureaucrats, corporate houses—hide behind press releases, compensation packages and vague promises of 'processes being followed.' What they fail to grasp is this: Accountability is not an inconvenience; it is the cornerstone of public safety. Crisis misused is crisis wasted: Air India, under the Tata Group, inherited a mess. It lost over ₹70,000 crore by 2021 and was sold for ₹18,000 crore—₹2,700 crore in cash, the rest in assumed debt. But buying an airline doesn't mean buying immunity. Despite injecting new aircraft and claiming adherence to protocols, the ecosystem remains crippled. Maintenance gaps, skilled manpower shortages, outdated safety audits, and an inert regulator define India's aviation sector today. Air India needed not just a financial reboot—it required a culture overhaul, a safety renaissance, and ethical transparency. Are they moving in that direction remains the big question. Even now, there is no confirmation that all AI aircraft are being thoroughly re-checked. Chandrasekaran ruled out any independent probe, content to let the DGCA. He even claimed, 'I didn't see any red flags.' The biggest red flag, sir, remains the charred remains of AI 171. The larger truth is that Air India is being strangled by operational laxity, financial burden, regulatory lethargy, and public distrust. Without systemic overhaul—real, not cosmetic— we are sleepwalking into more disasters. The death toll of AI 171 is not just a statistic—it is a mirror held up to a country that fails its own people. Where profit outweighs procedure, where regulators hide behind forms, and where tragedies are converted into talking points before disappearing from memory. Airlines must stop treating the skies as their monopoly and passengers as collateral. The government must treat civil aviation safety not as a footnote in a budget document but as a matter of national security. The DGCA must be made autonomous, answerable to a parliamentary body—not to the political bosses or airline owners. After all, transparency is not a courtesy. It is a duty. Until we stop flying blind—in aircraft, in governance, and in ethics—we will remain a country that mourns its citizens in silence but never learns why they died. (The author is former Chief Editor of The Hans India)

Iran Conducts NUCLEAR TEST, Explosions Trigger 5.1 Quake Amid Israel War? Panic Amid Speculations
Iran Conducts NUCLEAR TEST, Explosions Trigger 5.1 Quake Amid Israel War? Panic Amid Speculations

Time of India

time3 hours ago

  • Time of India

Iran Conducts NUCLEAR TEST, Explosions Trigger 5.1 Quake Amid Israel War? Panic Amid Speculations

Air India Crash: Miracle Survivor Vishwas Kumar Ramesh Discharged, to Perform Brother's Last Rites Air India crash survivor Viswas Kumar Ramesh has been discharged from Ahmedabad Civil Hospital and is heading home to perform the last rites of his younger brother, who perished in the April 12 crash. Ramesh, the only survivor among 242 passengers on the London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner, was flung out of the aircraft after it broke apart mid-takeoff. His seat, 11A, detached and landed near ground level, sparing him the deadly fireball. Ramesh, a British national of Indian origin, called his survival a miracle and expressed disbelief at how he made it out alive. A viral video earlier showed him emerging from the BJ Medical campus minutes after the crash. Ramesh is now returning home not to celebrate life, but to bid farewell to his brother. PM Modi and HM Amit Shah had visited him during his recovery. As he prepares for the cremation, his story remains a powerful symbol of resilience in the face of overwhelming tragedy.#AirIndiaCrash #ViswashkumarRamesh #Boeing787Crash #MiracleSurvivor #BJMedicalTragedy #IndiaUK #ModiAhmedabadVisit #AviationDisaster #CrashSurvivorStory #PlaneCrashIndia #toi #toibharat #bharat #breakingnews #indianews 34.3K views | 2 days ago

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store