AI 171 crash reminds Ahmedabad of another Air India accident 37 years ago

When the London-bound Air India plane (AI 171) crashed in Ahmedabad’s Meghaninagar area on June 12, it brought back haunting memories of another Air India flight that had gone down in nearly the same area 37 years earlier.

On October 19, 1988, Air India (then Indian Airlines) flight number 113 that took off from Mumbai crashed on the under-construction site of Kotarpur Water Works, around 7 km from the AI 171 crash site.

According to initial investigations, the pilots lost altitude as they approached the airport at 6.53 am on a foggy morning. The situation was worsened by smoke billowing out of two makeshift chimneys at the construction site of the Kotarpur Water Works that currently supplies water to the city.

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The runway path lights on Runway 7 at the airport were not clearly visible, resulting in a plane crash during landing. The aircraft came down at the site of the Kotarpur Water Works, which was under construction at the time and located adjacent to the airport.

Out of the 135 passengers and crew members on board, including the pilots, 133 lost their lives in the crash. However, there were no casualties on the ground, as the Meghaninagar slum, located around 12 km from the Kotarpur Water Works crash site, was sparsely populated at the time.

Recounting horror

Many residents of Laxminagar, a part of the Meghaninagar slum, still remember the 1988 crash and are in disbelief that they had to witness a tragedy of such magnitude for the second time in their lifetime.

“I was sleeping on my terrace. It was cold and cloudy that day, so I slept in a little longer. Suddenly, I woke up to a deafening noise. For a few seconds, I just sat on my cot, unable to make sense of what was happening. Then I saw thick black smoke rising from behind my house. I rushed to see what had happened and saw an entire plane—broken into two pieces and engulfed in flames—lying there. I froze in shock, then quickly ran downstairs. I grabbed my wife and kids, and we ran as far away from the fire as we could,” recalls Dayabhai Thakor.

“I was 22 years old at the time and used to sell tea near the old Civil Hospital building in Asarwa, Ahmedabad. I still have the same tea stall—now run by my son. On June 12 this year, I was at home with my wife while my son was at the stall when I heard a loud, familiar sound. Na hoye (It can’t be), was my first thought. Then came the screams. I stepped outside and found myself staring at yet another burning plane that had crashed near my home,” Dayabhai told The Federal.

“My father, an IIM-Ahmedabad graduate, was working at a finance company in Mumbai and earning around Rs 75,000 a month at the time. He was returning home when the plane crashed, killing him along with the others,” said Ketan Patel, son of Rajesh Patel, who died in the 1988 crash.

“My father was the sole breadwinner of our family. I was 12 and my sister was seven when he passed away. After his death, my mother had to take on odd jobs to keep us afloat. I still remember that for the first three months, we survived on the money we received from the life insurance company. After struggling for about a year, my mother finally secured a job as a cashier at a private school. But our lives were never the same again,” he recalled.

“I studied science at Gujarat University and, at the same time, took up a job as a machine technician in a denim factory in Ahmedabad to support the family. While working, I continued my education and eventually cleared the entrance exam to become an Assistant Professor at Gujarat University. But my real dream was to pursue an MBA and work abroad—a dream that died the day I lost my father,” he said.

The survivors

Initially, five passengers were rescued alive from the aircraft in the 1988 crash, but three of them succumbed to their injuries within a few days. Among the two survivors was Vinod Tripathi, who was serving as the registrar of the Gujarat Vidyapith at the time. He continued his career there and eventually retired as its vice-chancellor. He passed away from natural causes a year after his retirement.

The other survivor was Ashok Aggarwal, a local textile trader who lost his 22-year-old wife and 11-month-old child in the crash. Since then, he lived alone, struggling to recover from the deep mental and physical scars left by the tragedy. In 2020, his body was found in a decomposed state in his Ahmedabad flat. According to the police, he had died of a heart attack.

Seeking ‘fair compensation’

In 1989, the families of the 133 crash victims were offered a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each by Air India, the maximum amount allowed under the Carriage by Air Act, 1972, at the time. However, 20 families from Ahmedabad refused to accept the compensation, deeming it inadequate. Thirty-seven years later, they are still engaged in a legal battle seeking what they call “fair compensation”.

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“We are still about 20 families fighting a legal battle with Air India,” said Pankesh Patel, secretary of the Air Crash Claimants’ Association. “Our position has always been that compensation should be determined based on the victim’s age, income, and the impact their loss had on the family. We sought higher compensation under Section 25 of the Carriage by Air Act, 1972, which allows for increased claims if it can be proven that the damage resulted from an act or omission by the airline, particularly if they had the knowledge and means to prevent the incident.”

“We formed the association in 1990, though it took some time for all of us to be in the right state of mind to file the case,” said Patel. “Initially, Indian Airlines offered Rs 2 lakh as compensation to the families of each passenger who died in the crash. Meanwhile, the two survivors were awarded Rs 60 lakh each, with 6 per cent annual interest until 2009. Indian Airlines, later that same year, appealed to the Gujarat High Court to reduce the compensation. The court accepted the appeal and the amount was reduced to Rs 45 lakh,” he told The Federal.

Long legal battle

In 1992, after the investigation report was released, the Air Crash Claimants’ Association filed a case in the district court challenging the compensation amount they had been offered. In response, the court ruled that Indian Airlines and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) must jointly pay an increased compensation of Rs 6 crore, along with 6 per cent annual interest.

“After years of hearings, including cross-examinations of witnesses, the court finally considered our plea, taking into account factors such as the age, income, occupation of the deceased, whether they were the sole earners, the prospects of their families, and the victims’ life expectancy based on their age and health at the time,” said Patel.

“A Bench comprising Justices MS Shah and HN Devani passed the order, directing Indian Airlines and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to pay the compensation to the families by December 31, 2009. Indian Airlines was to pay 70 per cent of the amount, while AAI was to cover the remaining 30 per cent.”

Later, Indian Airlines and the AAI jointly challenged the lower court’s ruling in the Gujarat High Court. In 2009, the High Court upheld the lower court’s decision and went a step further by increasing the interest rate on the Rs 6 crore compensation to 9 per cent per annum. Following this, both AAI and Indian Airlines appealed to the Supreme Court in 2010, where the case is still pending.

Probe blamed pilots

The initial investigation into the incident suggested that the pilots were struggling to locate the runway due to a haze caused by fog and smoke from the dual chimneys of the Kotarpur Water Works. Later, the Justice Mathur Commission, a four-member court of inquiry led by Justice AK Mathur, was appointed to investigate the crash. The commission ultimately placed the responsibility for the accident on both the pilots and AAI staff.

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“The flight, which had departed from Mumbai and was bound for Ahmedabad, encountered hazardous weather conditions, with haze reducing visibility to just 1.2 miles. In these circumstances, the pilots neglected critical procedures necessary for safe navigation,” the report stated. “They failed to request landing clearance from the airport control tower and did not report their altitude during the descent, as was required at the time of landing.”

“The airport’s air traffic control failed to clearly communicate the extent of the reduced visibility. At 6.41 am, the pilots radioed their position over the Ahmedabad VOR, a short-range radio navigation system used during poor weather landings, indicating they were ready to begin their descent. However, air traffic control did not respond with updated information on the runway visual range (RVR). In the absence of this crucial guidance, the crew opted for a localiser-DME approach, a procedure that relies on radio signals to direct the aircraft to the runway when landing in near-zero visibility conditions,” read the report.