For families of Air India crash victims, report brings no closure and no comfort

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Relatives of a crash victim awaiting the arrival of his body at home in Ahmedabad, India, on June 17.

PHOTO: ATUL LOKE/NYTIMES

Mujib Mashal, Suhasini Raj

NEW DELHI – Mr Ravi Thakur was delivering lunch tiffins to doctors at the hospital when a passenger aircraft took off from a nearby airport and, moments later,

crashed into a dining facility

The crash and subsequent inferno killed her, along with Mr Thakur’s daughter, Adhya.

There had been a small swing for Adhya in the corner of the kitchen, where she could be watched while her parents were out delivering the food her grandmother cooked.

In the weeks since the June 12 crash in Ahmedabad, India’s worst aviation disaster in nearly three decades, Mr Thakur’s time has been spent seeking answers to how such a thing could happen: A plane falling from the sky, killing at least 260 people, including all but one of 242 on board.

The

preliminary investigation report

The report said fuel was switched off to both engines within seconds of take-off, and that the airplane started losing thrust before it had even crossed the airport’s perimeter.

But it had no answers