Air India: UK-Based Couple Who Went to India on Surprise Visit to Their Families Die in Crash

• A UK-based Indian couple, Pooja and Harshit Patel, who had gone to India to visit their families, never returned home due to an unexpected crash
• The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, en route to London, crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, India, on June 12, 2025
• The couple's parents and families mourned as they shared heartwarming moments they spent with the couple during their visit

A couple, Pooja and Harshit Patel, who went to visit their families in India, were among those killed in the viral Air India plane crash.

The aircraft crashed near the airport in Ahmedabad, a western city in India, on June 12, 2025.

As reported by The Guardian, the couple surprised their families with a visit to India, their first in two years.

Sadly, they never made it home as they were among the passengers who died in the ill-fated Air India plane crash.

The couple had lived in Leicester, where Pooja completed her master's degree and worked at Amazon, alongside her husband, Harshit.

Both families had sold properties, lands, and jewellery to get their children to the UK and sponsor Pooja in her master's degree.

Chandra Mate, Pooja's mother, shared how her daughter called her at least three times weekly to tell her about her life in the UK, stating how they felt when the couple visited.

She said that when the couple landed at their community, they were greeted as celebrities and welcomed by all.

Mate said:

"When I saw her after two years, it was a kind of joy I had never known. The entire neighbourhood came out to greet her and Harshit. Her glow, her presence – everything about her had changed.”

Families plan to cremate couple's bodies together

The families had waited in hope for the bodies of Pooja and Harshit so that they could cremate (burn) them together based on their Hindu tradition.

Pooja and Harshit’s bodies lie in the morgue of Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad, alongside at least 270 others who died in the crash.

Those who died in the crash include fellow passengers and victims who were on the ground.

As many victims were charred and dismembered far beyond recognition, authorities were faced with the task of collecting DNA samples from family members of loved ones and identifying them

As of Sunday afternoon, only Harshit’s remains had been confirmed by the hospital, as the families await that of Pooja, to enable them to undergo the process of cremation and other burial rites.

15-year-old boy killed by Air India crash

In a related story, a 15-year-old boy, Akash Patni, who was resting near his family's tea stall, was tragically among those killed in the crash that shook Ahmedabad in India.

When the crash happened, the boy’s mother, Sita, who was unaware that her son was sleeping nearby, managed to run.

Akash’s mother, Sita, survived with injuries and is in the ICU, unaware that her son died just metres away.

Source: Legit.ng