Akash Patni, 14, was sleeping under a tree in front of his family’s tea stall on Thursday when a flying and burning piece of metal from the aircraft that crashed into the B.J. Medical College hostel nearby struck him in the head and engulfed him in flames.

His mother, Sitaben, who was preparing tea, ran towards him but it was too late, Akash’s aunt Chandaben recounted outside the post-mortem room of the local civil hospital on Friday. Sitaben is being treated for severe burns. Akash’s body was burnt beyond recognition and his father has given his DNA samples for identification.

Tragedy unites all

The Meitei group Cocomi in Manipur has expressed shock and sorrow at the untimely demise of “two precious young daughters of our soil” in the Ahmedabad plane crash. The statement said while referring to crew members Nganthoi Sharma Kongbrailatpam and Lamnunthem Singson: “If there is a life beyond this one, and if the soul chooses to return, we pray you come back once again as proud daughters of this very motherland, Manipur.” Sharma is a Meitei and Singson a Kuki-Zo.

Home trip disaster

Krina Mistry, 21, who worked in London and had met with an accident and undergone a dental surgery while holidaying in her native Anand town, was in the flight, her bereaved father Suresh Mistry said. “She had called us from the aircraft, saying everything was fine,” Suresh recalled.

Plea to CJI

Dr Saurav Kumar and Dr Dhruv Chauhan have filed a letter petition before the Supreme Court Chief Justice seeking his suo motu intervention in directing the Centre and other authorities concerned to adequately compensate all the victims.

Marriage blow

Flight attendant Roshni Songhare, 26, was to tie the knot with a merchant navy officer next year and her family members had started making preparations. Her family in Thane are now numb. “She was the heartbeat of this home,” a relative said. Roshni was also a social media influencer with over 50,000 followers on Instagram.

Air India scare

A Delhi-bound Air India flight returned to Phuket following an onboard bomb threat on Friday and made an emergency landing. However, no suspicious devices were found.