- Air India flight crash killed passengers, nineteen ground victims.
- Filmmaker Mahesh Jirawala killed on ground, not flight passenger.
- Family reported him missing; phone traced near crash.
- DNA testing confirmed his remains, scooter found nearby.
Air India AI 171 crash: The Air India flight went down shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad Airport, killing all but one person on board. The tragedy also claimed the lives of 19 people on the ground when the aircraft crashed into the hostel of a medical college. Among those killed at the crash site was Gujarati filmmaker Mahesh Jirawala.
Gujarati Filmmaker Killed At Ahmedabad Crash Site
Mahesh Jirawala was not a passenger on the ill-fated AI 171 flight. According to an NDTV report, the filmmaker was riding home on his Activa scooter when the aircraft crashed, fatally injuring him.
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When Jirawala could not be reached, and his phone remained switched off for several hours, his brother Kartik filed a missing person’s complaint with the local police. Investigators later discovered that the last active location of his mobile phone was near the crash site. This raised fears that he may have been among those killed on the ground.
“We filed a missing person’s complaint at the local police station. We could never have imagined that my brother would die in a plane crash. We were shattered when his last mobile location was traced near the crash site. Humne socha bhi nahi tha ki wo us jagah par ho sakta hai [We had never even thought that he could be at the crash site],” Jirawala’s brother Kartik was quoted by NDTV as saying.
DNA Test Confirmed His Death
Despite the mounting evidence, the family struggled to accept the possibility of his death. Ahmedabad Police reviewed CCTV footage and continued the investigation for the missing filmmaker as efforts to identify the Ahmedabad plane crash victims progressed.
More than a week later, DNA testing confirmed that charred remains recovered from the wreckage belonged to Jirawala. Authorities had also recovered his Activa scooter from the crash site. According to the report, he became the final victim to be formally identified in the tragedy.
The loss was particularly heartbreaking for the family, as Jirawala had married his wife, Hetal, just three months before the accident, the report added.
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