The unfortunate Air India crash left a huge void in the hearts of many families, whose loved ones were among the 241people on the doomed Air India flight AI 171. Within seconds of the take-off, something terribly went wrong, and the pilot immediately made a ‘Mayday call’. But before any help or the issue can be diagnosed, the flight crashed at the building of Meghani Nagar’s B.J. Medical College Hostel mess at around 2 in the afternoon. Recently, one of the youngest flight attendants, Kongbrailatpam Nganthoi Sharma’s mortal remains were brought to Imphal’s Bir Tikendrajit International Airport, and several people paid tribute to her.
Youngest flight attendants, Kongbrailatpam Nganthoi Sharma’s last rites
After the tragic crash, the news of the tragedy reached Nganthoi’s family, who went to Ahmedabad and stayed there and waited for the confimration of the DNA sample to get hold of her mortal remains. A large number of people including residents, senior officials, elected leaders and community representatives stood outside Imphal’s Bir Tikendrajit International Airport to recieve the 20-year-old flight attendant’s mortal remains.
The family was heartbroken, and the young flight attendant’s father, K Nandeshkumar and her mother are still in trauma. She was the second of three siblings and they were all girls.
Nganthoi didn’t video called her family due to net ban on the flight
Earlier, in an interview with NDTV, Nganthoi’s family revealed that she had joined the job as a flight attendant through a campus recruitment process at her college in Imphal, two years ago. She had big dreams and always wanted to be a flight attendant. Talking about the fateful day, the internet was banned due to the violnet clashes in Manipur, who didn’t allow them to have a video call. However, when the internet was restored someone told them about the flight crash. Her sister revealed:
“It was her dream to become a flight attendant. We couldn’t chat on video as usual due to the internet ban. But she messaged me while I was in school that she would be flying to London today and that she would be unreachable. She said she would return on June 15. I wished her a safe flight and told her we’d contact her when we got the internet connection back. Then we heard of the plane crash from an aunt on the phone.”
More about the Air India crash
In the afternoon on June 12, 2025, a video of the aircraft flying low and trying its best to gain altitude surfaced on the internet. In the clip, the plane was seen slamming to the ground and exploding in a massive ball of fire at 1:38 p.m. For those who don’t know, the aircraft was also loaded with fuel as it was flying to London, which included a lot of distance.
On behalf of the Tata Group, Tata Sons Chairman, N Chandrasekaran, assured of providing Rs. 1 crore to each family who has lost their loved ones. While money cannot substitute lives, it is a way of showing they care. The post further revealed that all the medical expenses of those injured in the accident would be covered by the Tata Group. It also stated that they would be providing support to build up BJ Medical’s hostel.
We pray for the strenght of the young flight attendent!
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