The hardest thing, Miten Patel tells me, is answering questions from his young children.
“Where are they?” they ask about their grandparents’ sudden absence. “Are they upset with us?”
Ashok and Shobhna Patel were among the 241 people killed when Air India Flight 171 crashed in one of the worst aviation disasters involving British citizens in recent years.
On 12 June, 2025, the flight from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick plunged to the ground less than a minute after take-off.
Mr and Mrs Patel, who were returning home to Orpington in south-east London, were among the 53 Britons who died.
A year later, the cause of the crash remains unknown. Families are still mourning and still asking what happened — and why.
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Miten is one of them.
When I meet him at home, he says he is no closer to the answers he desperately wants. He is calling on investigators to publish their final report.
“There’s been no transparency, so much miscommunication, so many experts and theories – it just confuses people.”
Families, he says, are “looking for accountability and answers” but “do not get updates regarding the crash from anyone”.
The last update on Flight 171 published on Air India’s website was in July 2025 – eleven months ago.
A month after the crash, Indian authorities released a preliminary report, in line with standard procedure.
It found that both fuel control switches moved to the “cut-off” position immediately after take-off, stopping fuel from reaching the engines.
Why that happened remains unknown.
Miten said the hardest thing is answering questions from his young children about where their grandparents are. Credit: ITV News
The questions keep him awake at night. In the absence of official answers, he has searched for his own.
Online, he found footage filmed by passengers boarding the aircraft.
In the background, he spotted his parents.
He knows exactly where they were sitting, Row 37, and shows me images of his mother and father in their final moments.
There is comfort in seeing them looking so happy.
They were never meant to be on that flight. Originally due to return a week later, they changed their plans to be home for Miten’s wedding anniversary.
It is now a date forever linked to their loss.
Miten and his mother Shobhana Patel.
The day after the crash, Miten travelled to India to bring his parents home. But he says what followed raised even more questions.
When his mother’s casket arrived in the UK, the coroner discovered that other human remains had been returned alongside hers.
Miten says he was never given the opportunity to verify its contents before leaving India.
Only last week, he met the coroner, who confirmed all of his mother’s remains had been recovered. But substantial remains belonging to another victim had also been identified and separated.
Miten says he has repeatedly asked the Indian authorities for information about that person, but has received none.
“They need to show compassion,” he says. “We’re now one year on. These remains need to be returned to their loved ones.”
He says similar cases have emerged involving other families.
In one case, he says, the remains of a female victim were sent to the UK despite her family living in India.
Despite repeated attempts to have those remains returned to her relatives, he says nothing has happened.
Instead, he found himself tracing and contacting a member of her family.
“I’m grieving, and I have to break this news to someone’s son,” he says. “It should be the Indian authorities doing that, not me.”
Recovered items belonging to victims Ashok and Shobhna Patel were only given to their son last month. Credit: ITV News
Miten shows me the fire-damaged passports that belonged to his parents. The last time he held them was at Gatwick Airport before they departed.
Along with e-tickets and baggage tags, they were returned only last month.
He also has one of his mother’s tops. To recover it, he says he had to provide Air India with a photograph of her wearing it.
He smiles. “I never liked that top, but now it’s special.”
Of two large suitcases, only a handful of belongings have been returned.
“There must be more.” More than anything, he wants his parents’ mobile phones back.
It’s not the devices themselves that matter, but what they may contain — photographs from his parents’ final trip together.
He also worries about the future of the crash site, where accommodation blocks for doctors and nurses were destroyed or badly damaged.
Redevelopment plans make no mention of a memorial.
“Where’s the dignity?” he asks. “I still continue to fight while holding my grief in.”
Miten used AI to create an image of his children with their granchildren. Credit: ITV News
I ask whether campaigning for answers has stopped him from moving forward. “I don’t think we’ll ever get closure, to be honest.”
He says he is no longer the person he was a year ago.
Today, the family will gather for prayers. But he admits he is struggling with his faith. “I’ll get it back. But right now, it’s a struggle.”
Attempting to answer his children’s questions, he has used AI to create an image of their grandparents sitting beside them.
It doesn’t answer the questions they ask.
But for now, it’s the closest thing to an answer he has.
The Indian Air Accidents Investigation Bureau said: “On this solemn occasion, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) expresses its deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of all those who lost their lives in the accident.”
It pointed to its preliminary report in July 2025 and said its “extensive and rigorous examination” continues and is currently being analysed.
“The final report will be released upon completion of all investigative activities and the requisite international review and consultation processes.”
ITV News has contacted both Air India and Ahmedabad’s Civil Hospital for comment.
In a previous statement Air India told ITV News: “Families have been going through unimaginable grief since this tragedy and our responsibility to support and care for them remains our absolute priority.”
It said Air India “had remained in close and regular contact with the families… offering our full support during this difficult time, either directly or through their legal representatives where they have chosen this route, to ensure they are kept informed of any and all developments.”
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