MUMBAI: On Wednesday, the mortal remains of Javed Ali Syed, his wife Mariam Ali, and their two young children—six-year-old Amani and four-year-old Zayn—returned not to their home in London, but to a quiet neighbourhood in Goregaon East. The family perished in the crash of Air India flight AI 171, which took off from Ahmedabad bound for London but went down shortly after takeoff, claiming the lives of all on board.
With no direct return flights available from Mumbai, Javed, who had settled in the UK more than a decade ago, chose to travel via Ahmedabad. That detour proved fatal.
Javed had moved to the UK for a master’s degree 12 years ago and built a life there, eventually becoming a citizen and working as a hotel manager at the Best Western Kensington Olympia in London. It was in the UK that he met and married Mariam, a British national. This was their children’s first visit to Mumbai—a short, six-day trip to check in on Javed’s mother Fatima Ali, who had recently suffered a minor heart attack, and to celebrate Eid together as a family.
“This was the first time I saw my grandchildren in person,” Fatima said, struggling to hold back tears. “Now I’ll never see them again.”
The news of the crash sent shockwaves through the tightly knit community in Goregaon East. On Wednesday afternoon, over 500 people gathered at a common ground off the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road, where four ambulances, each carrying a coffin, stood in solemn silence before making their way to the burial site.
Among those grieving was Mariam’s sister, inconsolable at her niece’s grave. “I had four children… and I’ve lost two,” she cried, her voice breaking.
Farheen Mirza, a neighbour and longtime friend of the Syed family, recalled Javed’s journey with admiration. “He worked so hard. He went to London to build a better future. That’s where he met Mariam—they married two years later. This was only Mariam’s second visit to India. She was such a kind soul. And the children were bright, full of life.”
The tragedy has left a trail of unimaginable grief and a story marked by extraordinary resilience. Zuben Syed, Javed’s uncle, recounted the family’s race against time after hearing of the crash. “Relatives in Ahmedabad informed us. We rechecked the tickets and flight number… Their names were there. Without telling Fatima, eight of us left immediately to confirm in person,” he said. “Four went by road, and the rest managed to get only four train tickets.”
Nothing, he said, could prepare them for the devastation at the crash site. The identification process was harrowing and stretched over 100 hours. “Mariam, being a UK national by birth, had no immediate relatives in India. So, DNA matching had to be done step by step—first Javed, then the children, and finally Mariam. It was like a domino,” Syed explained.
There was one final wish the couple had made. Last year, during a pilgrimage to Mecca, Javed and Mariam had vowed to remain together in life, death, and even in their graves. “That’s why, despite all the paperwork and procedural hurdles, we brought them all back here,” Syed said quietly. “They’re together now. Just as they wished.”