The son of an Air India plane crash victim, who was sitting one row behind the man who survived, has told Sky News he will relive “her last moments” until the day he dies.

Manju Mahesh Patel, 79, was on the London Gatwick-bound plane when it crashed in Ahmedabad shortly after take-off on Thursday.

She was sitting in seat 12D on flight AI 171, the row behind the only person to survive the crash who was sitting in 11A.

In an interview with Sky News, Chirag Mahesh Patel, Manju’s son, said he hopes his mother’s death was “instant” and “painless”.

“To the day I die I will think, ‘what were her last moments?’,” he said.

Pointing to a framed family photograph of Ms Patel at the family home, he added: “I want to remember mum like this.

“I don’t want to have to go and identify a burnt corpse, your own parent. How does someone, how do you ever get over that? That will be with me, that’s with me for life.”

Ms Patel had been staying in Ahmedabad for the past few months doing charity work at a temple. She was due to be picked up by her son at Gatwick on Thursday night.

Read more on Air India crash:
Air India’s lone survivor is nothing short of miracle
Gloucester family among dead
Everything we know about the crash

In tears, Mr Patel described his mother as “very strong” and a woman “who really loved her family”.

“The thing about my mum,” he said, “is her bond with her faith. It’s unbreakable.

“She had ultimate faith… and in times of stress she would always say God’s name… So, I know that upon take-off, I know that she was saying his name.”

Mr Patel said that when he realised his mother was on the flight it was just “a normal day” and “it didn’t seem real”.

He said the last time he had spoken to her he had reminded her to take her diabetes medicine and had then missed a call from her at 4am to say she had arrived at the airport.

He described “the most heartbreaking thing” was how much Ms Patel was looking forward to seeing her grandchildren, saying “it was everything to her”.

She had told him she packed her suitcase with lollipops for her six-year-old grandson, and special crisps for her 15-year-old older grandchild.

“It’s unimaginable even in my worst nightmare,” he said. “And the thing that kills me… is she was so looking forward to seeing us… she kept saying I bought this for you, I bought that, I bought the things for the kids.”

Mr Patel and his wife are due to fly to India on Saturday night to provide a DNA sample to help identify his mother’s remains.

He expressed his anger at what he called a “disgusting” and “appalling” lack of communication from Air India – which he said passed his details to a hospital but never contacted him personally.

He described feeling “neglected” by the airline, which he said would only offer him an Air India flight – and no help organising accommodation.

Mr Patel said he refused to get on the Gatwick flight back to Ahmedabad and has booked with another provider to travel to India instead.

“I said [to the airline] all of this happened on Thursday, you’re telling me on Friday afternoon, do you want that flight this evening? That one crashed? The one coming back where 172 goes out? They asked do you want Air India 172? I said how can you ask me that. My mum just died on Air India.”

Mr Patel said he wanted “answers” and transparency in any air accident investigation.

Air India said in a statement: “Air India stands in solidarity with the families of the passengers who tragically lost their lives in the recent accident. Our teams on the ground are doing everything possible to extend care and support during this incredibly difficult time.

“As part of our continued efforts, Air India will be providing an interim payment of ₹25 lakh or approximately £21,000 each to the families of the deceased and to the survivor, to help address immediate financial needs. This is in addition to the ₹1 crore or approximately £85,000 support already announced by Tata Sons.

“All of us at Air India are deeply saddened by this loss. We mourn with the families, loved ones, and everyone affected.”

The company’s chief executive and managing director Campbell Wilson said in a video message posted on social media that over 200 “trained caregivers” were now in place to offer dedicated assistance to families, along with counselling and other services.

He said Air India was in the process of completing precautionary safety checks on Boeing 787 aircraft as directed by regulator the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which would “be completed within the timelines prescribed by the regulator”.

👉 Listen to Sky News Daily on your podcast app 👈

Mr Wilson said he had also visited the crash site and said other members of the management team would remain present “for as long as it takes”.

The aircraft’s data recorder, often referred to as a black box, has been recovered and will form part of the investigation into the worst aviation crash in a decade.

‘He was too young’: Families grieve those lost in Air India crash

By Lisa Dowd, Midlands correspondent, in Derby

It was an emotional service at Derby’s Geeta Bhawan Hindu temple, as dozens of friends, colleagues and neighbours gathered to remember Dr Prateek Joshi, his wife Komi, their daughter Miraya, and twin sons Nakul and Pradyut.

Some wiped tears from their eyes, as a colleague was asked spontaneously to pay tribute to Dr Joshi, who had been bringing his family to live in the city, when the Air India flight they were on crashed seconds after take-off.

“He was too young, too much still to give, too much still to be done, too much to offer,” his friend told worshippers.

“He was taken from us in a very cruel and abrupt way, and his family as well, and we all think about his family back in India who is missing a son, missing a daughter-in-law and missing all their grandchildren who they’ll never see growing up.”

Derby South MP Catherine Atkinson said Dr Joshi, who was a radiologist at the Royal Derby hospital, had been “contributing to our NHS and the health of so many in our city and beyond”.

She said his wife was a pathologist who had resigned from her job in India.

“I won’t forget the photograph of them on the plane, full of optimism about their new adventure,” she said, as her voice broke.

“The losses make us all hug our families and loved ones a little closer and remind us how precious our time together is.”

Dr Joshi was described as a “warm, smiling man, full of joy” who enjoyed walking in the Peak District and who had discovered “a love of fish and chips”.

His neighbour and colleague Manoj Ramtohal told Sky News Dr Joshi always had time for people.

“He was very caring and very polite, very friendly, you couldn’t meet a better man than Prateek,” he said.

“We lost a very, very talented doctor.”

Sir Keir Starmer is to launch a new national inquiry into grooming gangs.

It comes after a government-requested audit into the scale of grooming gangs across the country concluded a nationwide probe was necessary.

The prime minister previously argued a national inquiry was not necessary, but has changed his view following an audit into group-based child sexual abuse led by Baroness Casey, which is set to be published next week.

“[Baroness Casey’s] position when she started the audit was that there was not a real need for a national inquiry over and above what was going on,” he told reporters travelling with him to the G7 summit in Canada.

“She has looked at the material… and she has come to the view that there should be a national inquiry on the basis of what she has seen.

“I have read every single word of her report, and I am going to accept her recommendation. That is the right thing to do on the basis of what she has put in her audit.

“I asked her to do that job to double check on this; she has done that job for me, and having read her report… I shall now implement her recommendations.”

Grooming gangs timeline: What happened, what inquiries there were and how Starmer was involved

The near 200-page report is to be published next week and is expected to warn that white British girls were “institutionally ignored for fear of racism”.

One person familiar with the report said it details the institutional failures in treating young girls and cites a decade of lost action from the Jay Review, set up in 2014 to investigate grooming gangs in Rotherham.

The report is also expected to link illegal immigration with the exploitation of young girls.

The government had initially resisted a new inquiry, insisting that it first wanted to implement recommendations from previous inquiries, such as the Jay Review, into child sexual exploitation.

It also allowed five councils to set up their own investigations into their communities rather than hold a national inquiry.

The grooming gang scandal came back into the headlines at the beginning of the year after Elon Musk attacked Sir Keir and safeguarding minister Jess Philips for failing children.

The prime minister and Ms Phillips hit back, with Sir Keir citing his record of prosecuting abusers as director of public prosecutions, while Ms Phillips has long been a campaigner against domestic violence.

At the time, she told Sky News that Mr Musk’s claims were “ridiculous” and that she would be led by what victims have to say, not him.

Following the row between the tech billionaire and the UK government, the prime minister asked Baroness Casey to conduct an audit of all the evidence to see if a national inquiry was required.

Read more on this story:
Telford child abuse victims speak out
What we know about grooming gangs, from the data
The women who blew whistle on Rotherham

Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, said: “Keir Starmer doesn’t know what he thinks unless an official report has told him so.

“Just like he dismissed concerns about the winter fuel payment and then had to U-turn, just like he needed the Supreme Court to tell him what a woman is, he had to be led by the nose to make this correct decision here.

“I’ve been repeatedly calling for a full national inquiry since January. It’s about time he recognised he made a mistake and apologise for six wasted months.

“But this must not be the end of the matter. There are many, many more questions that need answering to ensure this inquiry is done properly and quickly.

“Many survivors of the grooming gangs will be relieved that this is finally happening, but they need a resolution soon, not in 10 years’ time. Justice delayed is justice denied.”