Elderly Kurukshetra couple's daughter among victims of Air India plane crash

Kurukshetra, Jun 13 (PTI) Anju Sharma (55), whose parents live in Ramsaran Majra village in Haryana's Kurukshetra district, was among the victims of the Air India plane that crashed soon after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport on Thursday.

Anju had boarded the London-bound flight to meet her elder daughter, who is now reaching Ahmedabad after the tragedy that killed 241 of the 242 persons on board.

Anju's uncle Balkishan Sharma told PTI over the phone on Friday that her parents are yet to be informed about the tragedy, fearing they will be unable to bear the shock.

“I don't know how to break this tragic news to my brother. But we cannot hide it for too long...,” he said.

Anju had shifted from Patiala, where she was married in the ‘90s, to Vadodara where she settled down, Balkishan said.

Her late husband was an engineer who worked in the oil industry, he said.

“Her brother Millan Sharma and her younger daughter are settled in Vadodara,” Balkishan said.

Anju visited her parents’ village last month, as her father, Jagdish Sharma, a retired government employee, had been unwell and bedridden for some time.

She stayed there for nearly a fortnight, Balkisshan said.

Recalling Anju as a warm, affectionate, and kind-hearted person, Anju's sister Neelu said she was like a pillar of support for the entire family.

“The tragedy has left us devastated,” she said.

Some other members of Anju's extended family who live in the village said they were shocked after hearing the news of the plane crash.

The London-bound aircraft with 242 people on board, including former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, crashed moments after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.

Vishwas Kumar Ramesh, a British national of Indian origin, miraculously survived the crash that killed 241 people on board, including 168 Indians, 53 British, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian, were killed. PTI COR SUN ARI ARI