A man who managed to get into the morgue where the victims of the Air India AI-171 crash were being kept said he saw things that were just unbearable, and that he will never, ever erase them from his mind. He claimed that in the middle of the bodies, he noticed the pilot of the flight still keeping a grip on the aircraft’s steering controls, as if it was stuck there. The London-bound Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner had crashed straight into the hostel building of BJ Medical College in Ahmedabad just a few seconds after takeoff. That awful accident killed 260 people altogether, among them 241 passengers and crew on board, and 19 people who were on the ground. There was just one passenger left alive after all of that.
Ahmedabad Plane Crash Captain Sumeet Sabharwal Pilot Was Still Clutching Plane Controls
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Vohra said that he saw the body of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, the pilot from the crashed flight, kept separately in one corner of the morgue, like as if it was set apart.
In Vohra’s own telling, the captain’s body was still in a sitting position. He said the back part was badly burnt, but the front looked mostly unmarked. He also claimed that the pilot’s white uniform shirt with four gold stripes along with his tie, trousers and even his shoes were still intact.
“He was still in a sitting position,” Vohra told the Mail. “His back was burnt, but the front of his body was absolutely perfect.”
What shocked Vohra the most was this, that the captain was allegedly still gripping the aircraft’s control yoke , the thing used to steer the plane. He said the yoke section may have snapped away during the crash or perhaps when rescue workers were taking the pilot out of the cockpit.
The Daily Mail also said a doctor who was present in the morgue backed up Vohra’s claims. If it is true, aviation experts think it could point to Captain Sabharwal trying to manage, and basically save, the aircraft right up to the very last moment.
Horrific Scenes Inside Ahmedabad Crash Victims’ Morgue
Vohra claimed he was able to enter into the mortuary because, earlier on he’d worked as a pathology lab assistant at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital during the Covid-19 pandemic and he still knew a few staff people there too. He went in, basically with the intention to figure out which bodies were his relatives, the ones who passed away in the crash.
As Vohra told it, many bodies were laid close together on the floor. He said he noticed severely damaged remains, including severed heads and limbs. He also remembered seeing the burned body of a mother, still holding her child in her arms. One of the most gut-wrenching things for him was when he tried to recognize a little girl’s skull by matching it against a photo of his niece.
Ahmedabad Plane Crash: Is the Pilot’s Fault?
In that preliminary report, which came out on July 12 last year, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said that the fuel supply to both engines was cut off almost at the same time, shortly after the plane actually took off. And they said that this sort of thing likely created a lot of confusion inside the cockpit,
The report also pointed to a cockpit voice recording where one pilot was heard asking, “Why did you cut off?” and then the other pilot answered “I didn’t”.
After these details got published, a bunch of people began speculating that pilot error might have contributed to the crash, maybe even as the main cause or something like that.
Still, Captain Sumeet Sabharwal’s family and several pilot associations strongly pushed back and did not agree with the conclusions. His 88-year-old father, Pushkaraj Sabharwal, along with the Federation of Indian Pilots, went to the Supreme Court, arguing that the report was deeply flawed and that it unfairly blamed pilots who are no longer alive, so they can’t really defend themselves properly.
The Supreme Court also referred to that kind of storyline as “unfortunate”.
Also Read: Lucknow Horror: Dismembered Body Of Woman Found In A Trunk On An Express Train
Manisha Chauhan is a passionate journalist with 3 years of experience in the media industry, covering everything from trending entertainment buzz and celebrity spotlights to thought-provoking book reviews and practical health tips. Known for blending fresh perspectives with reader-friendly writing, she creates content that informs, entertains, and inspires. When she’s not chasing the next viral story, you’ll find her diving into a good book or exploring new wellness trends.
