NEED TO KNOW
-
The family of Mahesh Kalawadia, 34, fears the filmmaker is dead after he disappeared following the Air India crash on June 12
-
Manesh’s brother said his sibling’s wife spoke on the phone with her husband minutes before the crash
-
Family members have searched many local locations, but have still not located their loved one
A filmmaker is feared dead after he disappeared following the Air India crash.
Family have been looking for 34-year-old Mahesh Kalawadia, who vanished after flight AI171 crashed in Ahmedabad shortly after takeoff on June 12, according to The Times of India and The Indian Express.
Manesh called his wife about 30 minutes before the crash, brother Kartik Kalawadia said, according to BBC.
During the call, which took place around 1:10 p.m., Kartik said his brother told his wife, Hetal, that he just finished a meeting near Law Garden, The Indian Express reported.
“They shared a few jokes, and he said he was on his way to their Naroda residence,” Kartik, 32, explained.
Raju Shinde/Hindustan Times via Getty
The wreckage of the crashed Air India plane is being lifted by a crane from the roof of the B.J. Medical College mess building, on June 14, 2025 in Ahmedabad, India.
Hetal spent an hour trying to reach her husband, but to no avail, Kartik said, according to The Indian Express.
Kartik said his brother was a few hundred meters away from the B.J. Medical College when his phone stopped working, according to BBC News.
“It’s like he vanished into thin air,” Kartik told the news outlet.
Family members began looking for Manesh after learning of the crash. They have looked at local hospitals, morgues and police stations, but still have not found him, according to The Indian Express.
Initially, the family did not believe the Meghani Nagar hostel — located where the incident took place — would be along Manesh’s usual route, Kartik said. However, they later learned that Manesh’s phone “switched off” about 700 meters from that spot.
“We have submitted DNA samples to check if he was one of those killed on the ground due to the crash,” Hetal said, according to the The Indian Express..
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
The death toll from the Air India crash has climbed to 270, according to the BBC and the Associated Press.
Among the dead are 241 people who were on the London-bound plane when it crashed, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson previously announced.
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh was the only person on board the plane who survived the crash.
Read the original article on People
Source link