FILE PHOTO: Members of Indian Army's engineering arm prepare to remove the wreckage of an Air India aircraft, bound for London's Gatwick Airport, which crashed during take-off from an airport in Ahmedabad, India June 14, 2025. / REUTERS/Amit Dave/File Photo

Families of those killed in last year's Air India plane crash marked the disaster's first anniversary on June 12, mourning their relatives and voicing frustration over the continuing wait for answers.

On June 12, 2025, the Boeing 787 crashed into a medical college shortly after take-off in India's western city of Ahmedabad, killing 260 people in the deadliest air disaster for a decade.

Also Read: Ahmedabad plane crash anniversary: Families relive painful memories, say life has never been same

On June 12, as grief-stricken families held prayer vigils, India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said that a hugely anticipated final report into the cause of the crash was not ready.

"Evidence gathered and the results of various examinations are currently being analysed", the AAIB said in a statement.

Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu promised that the "investigation continues with diligence and professionalism".

At the crash site, where mourners wept while offering prayers and laying flowers, some said it was not enough.

"It's been a year -- the government is not doing anything," said Kinjal Patel, who lost her mother.

The crash killed 241 people on board the plane and 19 people on the ground.

Among the dead were 200 Indians, 52 British citizens, seven Portuguese and one Canadian.

'Just tire us out'

Some families were sceptical that a final report, when it comes, would actually provide the answers they crave.

"I don't think anything will come from the report," said Samir Sheikh, whose 22-year-old son Irfan was a cabin crew member on the flight.

"It's been a year... they will just tire us out."

British law firm Stewarts, which represent several bereaved families, said it would continue to support its clients to "press for a full explanation" of what happened.

"Establishing the truth is not only critical for the families seeking answers, but to ensure that lessons are learned and future loss of life is prevented," law firm partners Sarah Stewart and Peter Neenan said in a statement.

Lawyer Ayush Dubey said that some of the families he represents had been sent documents that appeared to offer payment if they waived the right to pursue future legal action.

Air India did not immediately respond to Dubey's claim.

Suresh Patni, a driver, came to the site where the plane exploded in flames, engulfing his teenage son Akash at his family's tea stall.

"He was a good student, and could have done really well for himself," Patni told AFP, as he garlanded a framed photograph and a life-size cutout of the boy with flowers, and lit lamps.

Fragments of bags, clothes and a melted shoe lay half-buried in the charred earth at the site, alongside dead trees with burned trunks.

"It pains us when we hear an aeroplane flying overhead," Patni said, adding that their home was near the flight path.

Nearby, a woman wept as she embraced a framed picture of her dead family.

'Unanswered questions' 

As required by international law, the AAIB published a preliminary report a month after the disaster.

That 15-page document said the fuel supply to the jet's engines was cut off moments before impact, raising questions about possible pilot error.

It also published a conversation between the captain and his co-pilot about the fuel supply being cut off -- two brief sentences that sparked theories of pilot suicide.

The report was met with strong criticism.

It did not say why the fuel switches were turned off -- whether it was the fault of a pilot, or the result of a malfunction.

Only one passenger survived, Briton Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who has said he has "significant psychological scars" following the crash -- in which his brother died -- and "constant unanswered questions" about why it took place.

In Ahmedabad, Vijay Sengal described the horror of what happened when the plane came down.

A sanitation inspector at a nearby hospital, he was one of the first to try to rescue people.

"When we tried to pick up bodies, the body wouldn't come... instead, it was someone's hand, someone's leg," he said.

He said that he, like many others, avoids the crash site area after dark, fearing it is haunted.

"We believe in gods and also in souls," he said. "Those passengers sitting in the plane, maybe they still have some work stuck, their last wish still unfulfilled."

Discover more stories on NewIndiaAbroad