Hir Prajapati, who lost his mother, Kalpana Ben Prajapati, in the June 12 Air India AI-171 crash in Ahmedabad, has filed a lawsuit in a US Federal Court against aircraft manufacturer Boeing, seeking a faster verdict than he believes would be possible in India.
Prajapati is being represented by US-based law firm Beasley Allen, which is handling cases for at least 65 families from India and the US affected by the tragedy.
Lead attorney Mike Andrews, currently visiting India, met with families of victims and visited the crash site in Ahmedabad.
Prajapati told ANI: “We expect the raw details of information from the black box to come before us at the earliest so that we can make further decisions regarding the next course of steps, along with our lawyer. In India, trials get dragged for years. We are fighting the case in the US so that a decision is pronounced early. We believe we will get justice.”
Prajapati expressed gratitude for the support his family received after the crash.
“When the incident happened, the government helped us a lot. Police too helped us. We are thankful to the doctors too, who handed over the bodies to us after a swift DNA test,” he told ANI.
He said he had booked a June 9 flight for his mother but she was observing a fast that day so he rescheduled it to June 11. His mother said she didn’t want to travel on an odd-number date.
“So, I finally booked a ticket for June 12,” he told ANI.
Andrews told reporters that legal options would depend on what the investigation and data reveal.
“If Boeing is found to be responsible for this crash, the cases will be filed in the Federal Court in the US. More often than not, deceased pilots are the ones blamed. In incidents where planes landed safely, pilots weren’t blamed because they could still speak for themselves. We need to wait to get all of the data — rushing to judgement is premature and speculative,” he told ANI.
On Monday, families marked the two-month anniversary of the disaster with a candlelight vigil.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, operating as Air India flight AI-171 from Ahmedabad to London, crashed into a medical hostel shortly after take-off, killing all 229 passengers and 12 crew members on board, along with 19 people on the ground.
