Air India: UK-based Sisters Who Travelled to India For Grandmother’s Birthday Die in Plane Crash

• Dhir and Heer Baxi, UK-based Indian sisters, died in a plane crash shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad, India, on June 12, 2025
• The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, en route to London, crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, India.
• The sisters, both in their early 20s, had travelled to India as a surprise for their grandmother’s birthday celebration

Two UK-based Indian sisters, Dhir and Heer Baxi, who had gone to India for their grandmother’s birthday, became victims of a plane crash on their way back home.

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

The plane was headed for London’s Gatwick Airport in the United Kingdom with 242 people on board.

As reported by The Independent, the ladies, who were both in their early 20s, arrived in India on a surprise visit to their grandma for her birthday.

Cousin mourns sisters who died in crash

A cousin of the ladies, Ishan Baxi, who lives in Ahmedabad, told the PA news agency about their dreams and aspirations.

He revealed that Heer worked as a product manager and “loved statistics and finance”, while Dhir was a fashion designer.

He said:

“They both had aspirations to be successful enough to roam around the world like tension-free along with the parents, and they had proclivity towards modernisation without changing traditional values.

“Right now no one is able to come (to) terms because they both came here just to celebrate grandma’s birthday but, see, the tragedy – they came, they celebrated and they both left the world, everything is vanished right in front of our eyes.

“I am unable to control my tears even now also just because I was close to them, you just imagine what emotions parents are going through right now and think about guilt the grandma would feel right now.”

Ishan said the grandmother was in shock and the family had been unable to accept that both girls were dead.

The cousin added:

"I just want God to bless those souls, all dreams, promises, aspirations vanished in seconds.”

Other victims who died in the tragic air crash included a couple who went on a surprise visit to see their families in India.

A UK-based Indian couple, Pooja and Harshit Patel, who had gone to India to visit their families, never returned home due to the unexpected crash.

The couple's parents and families mourned as they shared heartwarming moments they spent with the couple during their visit.

15-year-old boy killed by Air India crash

In a related story on Legit.ng, 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.

Proofreading by James Ojo, copy editor at Legit.ng.

Source: Legit.ng