'Delivered, Not Seen': AI-171 Crew Member's Family Still Recharges Late Son's Mobile, Sends Messages

Pune: The family of a cabin crew member, who died in the last year's Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, continues to recharge his mobile phone and keep an active connection so that they can keep sending him WhatsApp messages, holding onto his memory amid enduring grief.

Every family of the Air India crash victims has had a different mechanism to grieve and deal with the immense personal loss a year on.

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For parents of 22-year Irfan Sheikh, one of the cabin crew members who perished in the tragedy, the loss-coping mechanism has been to share their daily routine on WhatsApp with a hope the messages had been delivered to him.

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Sameer Sheikh, Irfan's father, on Friday said the Pune-based family has been recharging his mobile number so that they can keep sending him WhatsApp messages.

"It's been a year (since the accident). We keep sending him messages on his WhatsApp, tell him about our routine. We have recharged his mobile even today. We feel the messages had been delivered to him," Sheikh said as he breaks down, showing the messages his family sends Irfan on his mobile.

Sameer Sheikh said he is still unable to fathom that his son's body was gutted.

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"We were told that all bodies got burnt. When we went to the post-mortem room, we were given a box containing his belongings. His clothes...shirt, pant, belt, socks and undergarments were not burnt. Yet, his post-mortem report states that his body got burnt," he added.

On June 12 2025, a London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner of the Air India began to lose thrust almost immediately after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport and ploughed into a medical college hostel in Meghaninagar area, killing all but one of the 242 onboard and another 19 on the ground in the deadliest aviation accident in a decade. 

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