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Air India crash victim's son moves US court against Boeing, seeks swift justice
Hir Prajapati also expressed gratitude towards the Indian government, police and doctors for helping the family.
Hir Prajapati, who lost his mother, Kalpana Ben Prajapati, in the June 12 Air India plane crash, has filed a case against Boeing in the US Federal Court, hoping for a quicker resolution than what he believes the Indian judicial system could offer.
Speaking to ANI on Tuesday, Prajapati said his family has engaged US-based aviation lawyer Mike Andrews to represent them. “We have hired Mike Andrews. We expect the raw details of information from the black box to come before us at the earliest so that we can decide our next steps along with our lawyer. In India, trials get dragged out for years. We are fighting the case in the US so that a decision is pronounced early,” he said.
Prajapati expressed his gratitude towards the Indian government, police, and doctors for their support after the tragedy. “We believe we will get justice. When the incident happened, the government helped us a lot. The police also helped us. We are thankful to the doctors too, who handed over the bodies to us after a swift DNA test,” he said.
Recounting the events leading to his mother’s ill-fated journey, Prajapati revealed how her travel plans changed multiple times before she finally boarded the doomed flight. “I had initially booked a June 9 flight for her, but she had a fast that day. So, I rescheduled it to June 11. Then she told me she didn’t want to travel on an odd date. I finally booked her ticket for June 12,” he recalled.
On Monday evening, families of the victims held a candlelight vigil to mark two months since the disaster. Mike Andrews, who represents more than 65 victim families, joined the remembrance. “Today marks the two-month anniversary of this tragedy. It has been a very difficult day for everyone involved. The families organised a candlelight vigil to stand in remembrance. We are thankful and grateful to have been invited… The families are back now, searching for answers,” he told ANI.
The Air India flight AI-171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, crashed shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on June 12, killing all people on board - 229 passengers and 12 crew members - as well as 19 people on the ground.
