'Don't know if they're dead': Kin await news of their loved ones

We are in utter disbelief... He was very excited to return to London and resume work KAILASH PARIHAR, Abhinav Parihar's cousin

- Senjuti Sengupta, Hemendra Chaturvedi and Hemani Bhandari

Senjuti Sengupta, Hemendra Chaturvedi and Hemani Bhandari [e-mail] JAIPUR/AGRA/NEW DELHI: A couple from Agra excited about their UK holiday. Two young British tourists celebrating the end of an exhilarating India tour. Two siblings headed for a summer trip. A family of five taking selfies moments before disaster struck.

These were among the people who perished on Thursday after the London-bound Air India flight they were on crashed 33 seconds after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport.

The plane — a Boeing 787-8 dreamliner — rammed into a medical college hostel at 1.39pm on Thursday as thick plumes of black smoke billowed from the debris of AI 171.

"Her husband fainted after getting the news of her death in the plane crash. We can't believe that Khushboo is not with us anymore," said Laxmikant Rajpurohit, uncle of Khusboo Rajpurohit, a resident of Balotra's Arara village.

Rajpurohit, 22, was going to visit her husband in London for the first time since their marriage in January. "Her husband is a medical researcher in London. They got married in January. On Thursday, her father Madan Rajpurohit went to drop her at Ahmedabad airport where they also took a picture. Minutes after Madan left the airport and arrived at a local temple, the plane crashed and Madan got the news," said Laxmikant.