The lone Canadian citizen who was killed in the Air India crash on Thursday was identified as an Indian-origin dentist, Nirali Patel, media reports suggested.
Family to travel India after tragedy
According to PTI, Nirali Patel was living in Etobicoke, Toronto. She had come to India on a social visit and was returning to Canada, CTV News reported. Her husband is now planning to travel to India with their child, the outlet added.
“It’s absolutely shocking. There’s no words in this grievance,” CTV quoted a community leader as saying.
Kin in shock after crash
He added that Nirali was on a 4–5-day trip to India, and after hearing the news of the plane crash, her brother and sister-in-law were in a state of shock. Nirali’s brother lives in Brampton.
The Al-171 Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 aeroplane bound for London’s Gatwick had crashed shortly after it took off from the Ahmedabad International Airport on Thursday. The airlines said only one out of the 242 people on board the aircraft survived the crash.
Experienced crew piloted ill-fated aircraft
The aircraft was piloted by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, a Line Training Captain with 8,200 hours of flying experience, assisted by First Officer Clive Kundar, who had logged 1,100 flying hours.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is a division of the Ministry of Civil Aviation tasked with probing aircraft accidents in India.
AAIB launched a probe
A formal investigation has been launched by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) into the deadly crash of Air India flight 171 that killed 241 people onboard, Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu confirmed on Thursday.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), a federal agency authorised by Congress to investigate civil aviation accidents in the United States (US), is gearing up to send a team of investigators to India to assist with probing the deadly Ahmedabad plane crash.
