“They never made it to London”: A family’s dream ends in Air India crash

Dr Koni Vyas had just resigned from her job at a private hospital in Rajasthan.

After years of living apart, she was finally joining her husband, Dr Pratik Joshi, a radiologist based in London, to begin a new life with their three children.

The visas had come through. The bags were packed. Their children - eight-year-old Miraya and five-year-old twins, Pradyut and Nakul - were set to board their first international flight.

On the morning of June 12, their family of five boarded Air India Flight AI171 from Ahmedabad to London. Before takeoff, they took a selfie inside the plane - Pratik and Koni on one side of the aisle, their children smiling from the other. They sent the photo to relatives, full of excitement for the life ahead.

Minutes later, the plane crashed. There were no survivors.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation. Authorities have confirmed that at least 11 passengers from Rajasthan were on board.

For families in Banswara and Udaipur, the grief is unspeakable.

Koni, 38, had been living in Udaipur, where the children were studying. She had temporarily moved to Banswara to finalise paperwork and prepare for the relocation. According to relatives, she had been anticipating this move for months. Pratik had flown back from London just three days earlier to bring his family home.

“They had waited for years for this day,” said Koni’s cousin Nayan Joshi. “We all came to the airport to send them off. It felt like a beginning.”

Now, those same family members are helping identify bodies at the crash site.

Pratik, whose father is a well-known radiologist in Rajasthan, had spent the last six years building a life in the UK. Koni, a pathologist, was known for her dedication to her work and her quiet strength as a mother. The couple had been married for over a decade.

“This was not just a tragedy,” said a family friend in Udaipur. “It was a story of hope. They were on their way to something better.”

Instead, their journey ended in silence.

As rescue and recovery efforts continue, officials have issued an urgent appeal for blood donations in Ahmedabad, particularly from those with negative blood types. Hospitals are treating several survivors of ground-level impact and injuries from debris.

In the hours since the crash, social media has flooded with condolences and tributes - not only for the Vyas-Joshi family, but for all lives lost. Yet for those who stood on the tarmac waving goodbye, grief is no longer digital. It is physical. It is real.

A photo remains. A family frozen in time - smiling, mid-flight, on the edge of a future that never came.