New Delhi: The horrific Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad in June 2025 rocked the entire nation. It killed 260 people and left a deep wound on India’s
civil aviation sector.
Air India returns personal belongings
Air India has begun returning personal belongings to the families affected by the crash. A spokesperson of the airline informed that and added that the airline is “working closely with a qualified external partner, our teams have spent considerable time cataloguing and documenting recoverable and returnable items.”
The ‘associated items’ and ‘un-associated’ ones
The airline has preserved more than 22,000 personal belongings and meticulously listed them on a dedicated portal. The items include almost 8,000 ‘associated items’, such as a victim’s passport or any other document, and 14,000 ‘un-associated items’ that have yet to be linked to their owners.
The affected families have been mailed about these items, and there is also a dedicated website for them. Once the details are confirmed, the families will be handed over the belongings with utmost respect for their grief and privacy.
Families informed, process has started
The families have been mailed about the ‘associated items’ with photographs and details. They can not take the item, or collect it in person in Ahmedabad, or ask Air India to courier them. The process started on January 5 and will end in mid-February, with several people already collecting items belonging to their kin killed in the crash.
About the un-associated items, the spokesperson said that the details of all the 14,000 items are available on the web portal, and the link has been shared with family members of all the crash victims via email. The website is not open to the public, and a family can claim a particular item of their kin by “pressing a button.”
Toy airplane, toy car, sweater among items
A man who lost his mother in the crash reportedly said that he identified her belongings through the Air India link. He added that personal belongings include a toy airplane, a wrist watch, a toy car, a sweater, plastic bangles, a pair of shoes, and a half-burnt page of a book having the famous Gujarati prayer “Mangal Mandir Kholo”.
He reportedly said, “I have gone through the portal. Belongings of our loved ones hold a special place in our hearts, and we always want to preserve those things. I went through all the listed items but did not find anything that belonged to my mother, maybe because she was not carrying much luggage on that day.”
