Until Thursday’s Air India plane crash, Dr Koni Vyas’s family was on the brink of a new life. A pathologist working at a private hospital in Rajasthan’s Banswara, Koni had resigned from her position last month so she could begin a new life with her husband Pratik Joshi, a London-based doctor, and their three children – five-year-old twin boys Pradyut and Nakul and eight-year-old daughter Miraya.
Before the flight took off, the family clicked a selfie – the beaming parents on one side of the aisle and the children on the other. Minutes later, tragedy would strike.
According to family members in Banswara, after resigning from her job at the Pacific Hospital, Koni had been excitedly preparing for the journey for a month. According to relatives, Joshi, a radiologist, had been working in London for the last four years and was similarly looking forward to a life with his family there. His father was also a radiologist who ran a renowned sonography centre in the city, while his sister is an engineer.
While Koni lived with the children in Udaipur, where they were studying, “she had been staying in Banswara because the kids’ visas were still being processed,” her cousin Nayan Joshi said.
According to relatives, the couple got married around a decade ago, and Joshi had returned from London three days ago so he could take his family with him.
“They left for on Wednesday to take the flight to London,” Nayan Joshi said. Several members of Koni’s family had accompanied them to the airport to see them off before the journey; now, they are in the process of identifying the bodies. Koni, relatives said, is survived by two sisters and a brother.
So far, authorities have confirmed that 11 people from Rajasthan were on the plane.
Chief Minister called the news of the crash “extremely sad and worrying”. Former chief minister said the development was “heartbreaking”.
