Outside the postmortem room of Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, Kalpeshbhai Patni, 28, sits silently, tears streaking down his dust-covered face. He has just identified the body of his younger brother, 14-year-old Akash Patni, one of the 241 victims of the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crash that occurred during takeoff on June 13, 2025.

Akash was flying for the very first time, heading to Delhi for a school event - what was meant to be a moment of pride ended in unimaginable loss. "He was just a child," Kalpesh says, struggling to speak through sobs. "He had dreams... and they ended in flames."

The grief outside the hospital is unbearable, with multiple families waiting to claim the remains of their loved ones. Authorities are working round the clock to identify bodies through DNA testing as part of the massive recovery effort.

For Kalpesh and countless others, this isn't just a national tragedy - it's deeply personal, a lifetime of pain condensed into one irreversible moment.