đ TRAGIC LOVE STORY: Young Couple Engaged to Spend Their Lives Together, Then a Heartbreaking Fate Strikes in Air India Crash đ
Just days after getting engaged and planning their life together, a young couple lost their lives in the Air India Flight AI171 crash. In the wreckage, there was only one item recovered that symbolized their love. đ˘
One tragic moment of the Ahmedabad plane crash has shattered hundreds of hopes, dreams and promises. Several beautiful stories of couples, families and friends have been left incomplete as the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft crashed just minutes after its take off from the airport. Among other victims who left behind memories and tears were a newly engaged couple, Hardik Avaiya and Vibhooti Patel. The duo who stayed in the UK just came to seek the blessings of their family to get engaged before starting a new life with no hint about the tragic end that was waiting for them.
Hardik and Vibhooti came to get engaged in India
Vibhooti Patel, aged 27, who hails from Umbhel village in Surat’s Kamrej taluka pursued her graduation in Physiotherapy and moved to the UK for her post graduation. In a new country, she came across Hardik Avaiya, originally from Botad and they soon fell in love. As their bond deepened over time, they eventually decided to get engaged and arrived in India to celebrate with their family and seek blessings. The couple’s engagement ceremony was held in their hometown, just a week before the tragic plane crash. The deputy Sarpanch of Umbhel village recalled the memory and said to the Times Of India:
“They had come home on a 10-day leave to get engaged,”
The Deputy Sarpanch shared that Vibhooti’s father is a clerk at a local bank, and she had two siblings. She was a bright student who once even served as a member of the local grand panchayat at a young age and was committed to her studies. On the other hand, Dhaval Patel, who worked with Hardik at a warehouse shared more about him and said:
“He didn’t like the limelight, and he just worked in the background to get things done. He was jovial and liked to crack a joke. Hardik was dedicated, hard-working, and very pleasant. He was a model devotee and volunteer because he had selfless service.”
Hardik Avaiya’s friends got the news about the place crash through a call
Prayers were held in Leicester’s Shri Hanuman Temple to pay final respects to the couple. Amid that, Hardik Avaiya’s friend, Dhaval Patel shared that he was on his way to pick up the couple from London’s Gatwick airport when he and some other people who were with him got a call that a plane from Ahmedabad to that airport had met with a crash. So, he and his other friends checked Hardik’s ticket, and when it matched, they couldn’t stop crying. He said:
“We were absolutely devastated. It’s like losing a family member. In events like this, people come together and give their respects and give us some sort of a release from the feeling of shock and feeling distraught. It’s a feeling of helplessness, emptiness; normally, if something goes wrong, we can sort things out, but this has been very difficult.”
More about the tragic Ahmedabad plane crash
The Ahmedabad Flight of A1-171 has not just left debris behind it. Rather, it has left heartbroken families and unfinished dreams. Beginning of the crash took place when the Air India flight AI171 flight’s altitude reduced suddenly after it too off from the airport. Within a matter of minutes, it crashed into a nearby doctor’s hostel. The journey, which was supposed to bring happiness, make people meet their loved ones, and more, has just brought gloom, which is the sudden nature of events.
We share our heartfelt condolences to the families of Hardik Avaiya, Vibhooti Patel and others who lost their lives in the tragic plane crash.
A newly engaged couple is reportedly among the nearly 300 passengers who were killed in the Air India plane crash last week.
Hardik Avaiya, 27, and Vibhooti Patel, 28, had traveled from their home in Leicester, England, to get engaged in India â and were on their way back to the U.K. on Thursday, June 12, when Air India Flight AI-171 crashed just seconds after takeoff, according to reports from the Times of India, the BBC and Leicestershire Live.
Speaking to the Times, Darshan Patel, an elected official in Patel’s hometown of Umbhel, Gujarat, said the pair had “come home on a 10-day leave to get engaged.”
“The couple had just celebrated their engagement in Umbhel last week before boarding AI-171 to return to the U.K.,” he said.
One of the couple’s friends, Dhaval Patel, was on his way to London’s Gatwick Airport to pick them up from their trip when he heard the news of the plane crash.
“I got a call to say a plane to Gatwick had crashed in Ahmedabad,” Dhaval told the BBC. “So we immediately checked the ticket and matched the flight number, and we just cried.”
Hardik Avaiya.Shree Hanuman Temple – Leicester
“It’s devastating,” said another friend of the couple, identified as Margi by Leicestershire Live. “They were very good people. I can’t believe it’s happened.”
Patel was a physiotherapist who had reportedly moved to the U.K. to get her master’s degree at Leicester College. She later met Avaiya in the area, where he worked in a warehouse while also volunteering at their temple as a secretary.
Speaking to Leicestershire Live and the BBC, the couple’s friends also remembered them as high achievers who were active in their local religious community.
“When [Avaiya] left, he asked the staff if the temple needed anything bringing back, that’s the kind of person he was,” Dhaval told the BBC. “He didn’t like the limelight, he just worked in the background to get things done.”
Another member of their temple, Rajesh Patel, told Leicestershire Live that all of Avaiya’s family was living in India, but he had found a community through their temple.
“On his days off, he would often visit the temple because he didn’t have any relatives in the U.K., just his group of friends,” his pal said.
“He was jovial, liked to crack a joke. He was dedicated, hard working, very pleasant,” Dhaval added of Avaiya. “He was [a] model devotee and volunteer because he had selfless service.”