Priyanka Tiwari
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Suspense crime, Digital Desk : A nation is in shock and a Prime Minister in personal grief today after a catastrophic Air India crash in Ahmedabad claimed the life of former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, along with 240 other passengers and crew. The tragedy, one of the deadliest in India's aviation history, has left only a single miraculous survivor.
The ill-fated Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, flight AI-171 bound for London, crashed just moments after taking off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on Thursday. The aircraft slammed into a resident doctors' hostel near a medical college complex, turning the area into a scene of unimaginable devastation and horror.
In a deeply personal and emotional tribute, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who rushed to Ahmedabad to oversee the response, mourned the loss of a man he called a friend and a trusted colleague.
"It is unimaginable that Vijaybhai is not in our midst," the Prime Minister shared in a heartfelt post on X. "I’ve known him for decades. We worked together, shoulder to shoulder, including during some of the most challenging times." He remembered Rupani as a "humble and hardworking" leader who was firmly committed to his ideology and whose focus on ‘Ease of Living’ had left a lasting mark on Gujarat.
વિજયભાઈ રૂપાણીના પરિવારજનોને મળી સાંત્વના પાઠવી. વિજયભાઈ આપણી વચ્ચે નથી એ વાત મન માનવા તૈયાર નથી. વર્ષોથી મારે તેમની સાથે નાતો રહ્યો છે. કંઈ કેટલાય પડકારજનક સમયમાં અમે ખભે ખભા મિલાવીને કામ કર્યું છે. સરળ અને સાલસ સ્વભાવના વિજયભાઈ ખૂબ મહેનતુ હતા તથા પક્ષની વિચારધારા પ્રત્યે… pic.twitter.com/Yewze1sWjY
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 13, 2025
The Prime Minister visited the crash site to survey the wreckage and held a high-level emergency meeting with officials to coordinate the massive relief and investigation effort. His visit also included a somber trip to the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, where he met with Vishwashkumar Ramesh, the flight's lone survivor, and others who were injured on the ground.
"The entire nation is praying for their speedy recovery," PM Modi stated, assuring them of the government's full support.
The flight was carrying passengers from multiple countries, including 169 Indians, 53 British nationals, and others from Portugal and Canada, making this an international tragedy. As investigators search for the black box and begin the painstaking task of piecing together what went wrong, a country grapples with the sudden and shocking loss of a respected public figure and hundreds of other lives.
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