Victims' families Ahmedabad-bound for DNA tests
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, June 13 2025: A sister and a cousin of Kongbrailatpam Nganthoi Sharma, who was among the 12 cabin crew members onboard the Air India flight that crashed a day ago, as well as the eldest brother and a cousin of Lamnunthem Singson, the other victim from the state, on Friday left for Ahmedabad for DNA testing.

"A doctor from Gujarat called us and said Nganthoi's name was not on the list of injured persons.

He asked us to reach Ahmedabad for DNA tests to identify her body," cousin N Khenjita told PTI .

Twenty-year-old Nganthoi was among the 242 people onboard Air India Flight AI 171, which crashed minutes after take-off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad on Thursday.

Khenjita said they left Manipur and will reach Ahmedabad via Guwahati.

"Had today's visit to Ahmedabad been for meeting her, I would have been so happy.

The dress I am wearing now was purchased by her last time," Nganthoi's elder sister K Geetanjali told PTI, as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Nganthoi's father Nandeshkumar Sharma said, "Her mother has not eaten since we received the news yesterday.

She is currently under medical observation.

Our daughter had last visited us in March".

Nganthoi was a crew member for the last three years.

Another cousin of the cabin crew member said her last message before take-off was, "I'm going to London.

In a few minutes, we'll take off.

We may not be able to talk for a while".

The grieving family Nganthoi says they received no official communication from the airline and only learned of her death through social media.

"Air India has not informed us of anything.

I got the information only through social media," said Nandesh Sharma, speaking from their home in Thoubal.

His voice choked as he added, "My eldest daughter has gone there...

My son is in Delhi.

They will now head to Ahmedabad.

I have nothing left to speak".

The family is now grappling with shock and silence, while the search and identification of victims continues in Ahmedabad.

Nganthoi's death is a heart-breaking reminder of the many young lives lost in the crash, and the gaps in communication that grieving families are still confronting.

Lamnunthem Singson, the second crew member from Manipur killed in the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, was the sole earning member of her family, which had faced the brunt of the ethnic violence in the state.

She had last talked to her widowed mother over the phone on June 11, her cousin said on Friday.

Singson told her mother that she would fly to London on Thursday and wanted to sleep early the previous night, he said.

The third child among four siblings, Singson was the "only daughter and their widowed mother had struggled much to raise all of them", her cousin Lun Kipgen said.

"The 26-year-old was the sole earning member of the family.

Her eldest brother is unemployed and suffering from a chronic disease, while two other brothers are studying," Kipgen told PTI.

Though unwell, her eldest brother is already on his way to Ahmedabad, while another brother and a cousin went from Kangpokpi to Nagaland's Dimapur, and will go to the Gujarat city, he said.

Kipgen said, "We are devastated by the news.

Her mother is in deep shock and refused to eat since the crash reports surfaced" .

Air India authorities called Singson's family late on Thursday and said her body was yet to be identified, he claimed.

"Singson last talked to her mother on Wednesday around 11 pm.

She had said that she would fly to London the next day and wanted to sleep as early as possible because she had to report for duty early on Thursday.

Singson and her mother held routine prayers over the phone.

They used to pray jointly over the phone regularly before sleeping," he said.

Singson belonged to a Kuki family whose members had to flee their homes during the ethnic violence in the state, her cousin said.

"When ethnic violence broke out in May 2023, Singson was not in the state, but her family members, along with other Kuki families, shifted to Kangpokpi," another family member said.

(With inputs from PTI) .

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