A man who gained access to the morgue where victims of the fiery Air India AI-171 crash were kept has revealed he witnessed scenes he “can never unsee”, including the body of the plane’s captain still clutching the aircraft’s steering column.
The London-bound Air India flight, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, crashed into the hostel building of BJ Medical College in Ahmedabad within seconds of takeoff. The disaster killed 260 people, including 241 passengers and crew on board and 19 people on the ground. Only one flier miraculously survived.
Among those killed were Romin Vohra’s aunt Yashmin, his brother Parvez, who worked for Amazon in London, and his three-year-old niece.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Vohra said he managed to gain entry into the mortuary because he had worked as a pathology lab assistant at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital during the Covid-19 pandemic and still knew people there. He hoped to identify the remains of his relatives.
Instead, he walked into a vision straight out of hell.
According to Vohra, many of the bodies had been laid side by side on the floor. He recalled seeing severed heads and limbs, a charred mother with her child still in her arms, and the skull of a little girl that he desperately tried to match with a photograph of his niece.
But one image, he said, stood apart from the rest.
Vohra claimed he saw the body of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, the pilot in command of the ill-fated flight, placed separately in a corner of the mortuary.
“He was still in a sitting position,” Vohra told the Mail. “His back was burnt, but the front of his body was absolutely perfect.”
He said the captain’s white uniform shirt, complete with four gold stripes on the shoulders, dark tie and trousers, appeared intact. Even his shoes were still on.
What shocked him most, however, was what Sabharwal was allegedly still holding.
Vohra claimed the pilot remained clutching the aircraft’s double-handled yoke — the steering column used to control the plane — which may have broken off during impact or while rescuers removed him from the cockpit.
The Mail reported that a doctor who was purportedly present in the mortuary also backed Vohra’s account.
If accurate, aviation experts said the detail could support the argument that Captain Sabharwal was trying to save the aircraft until the final seconds.
In its preliminary report released on July 12 last year, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said the fuel supply to both engines was cut off within one second of each other shortly after takeoff, leading to confusion inside the cockpit.
The report mentioned cockpit voice recordings in which one pilot asked, “Why did you cut off?” while the other replied, “I didn’t.”
The exchange triggered speculation that pilot error may have contributed to the crash.
Captain Sabharwal’s family and pilot bodies, however, have strongly objected to the preliminary findings. His 88-year-old father, Pushkaraj Sabharwal, along with the Federation of Indian Pilots, approached the Supreme Court alleging the report was “profoundly flawed” and unfairly focused on pilots who were no longer alive to defend themselves.
The Supreme Court also described such a narrative as “unfortunate”.
Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu has since urged people not to jump to conclusions, insisting there has been no manipulation in the investigation and asking the public to wait for the final report, which is expected next month.
– Ends
Published By:
Devika Bhattacharya
Published On:
May 18, 2026 08:05 IST
