With plane crash, family's excitement for flight attendant Roshni's wedding turns into despair

Thane:  Flight attendant Roshni Songhare was about to add a new chapter in her life as she was set to tie the knot with a merchant navy officer next year, and her excited family members had started making preparations for it.

But all that excitement turned into despair after the news of the London-bound Air India flight crashing in Ahmedabad on Thursday afternoon broke. Roshni, 26, was one of the crew members on board that flight.

This development plunged the Songhare family living on Rajaji Path in Dombivli town of Maharashtra's Thane district into numbing silence.

Roshni had left her home three days ago for duty excited, as always, to serve on international flights - this time from Ahmedabad to London. But the fatal crash of the aircraft snuffed out her dreams and left her family members - 50-year-old father Rajendra, mother Shobha and younger brother Vignesh completely shattered.

"She was the heartbeat of this home. We were getting her engaged in November and married in March," a close relative told reporters in a trembling voice.

"Time played cruelly with her," he said.

A native of Mandangad in coastal Ratnagiri district, the Songhare family had moved to Mumbai for work and shifted to Dombivli two years ago.

Roshni, a bright and determined girl, was the family's pride and pillar. Her father worked tirelessly to educate both his children, and Roshni, inspired by the skies, pursued and completed a flight attendant course. She began her career with SpiceJet and later joined Air India, where she opted for international assignments relishing every airborne mile, her family members said.

"She was so happy to be flying again. We were all looking forward to her wedding. Everything was going right," said her uncle Praveen Sukhdere, who has rushed Dombivli to be with the grieving family.

After the news about the plane crash flashed, the family members immediately tried to contact her. But when there was no response, panic gripped. Her father and brother immediately rushed to Ahmedabad, holding on to hope.

Roshni's fiancé, a highly educated officer in the merchant navy from Guhagar taluka, currently living in Thane, had met her through a family acquaintance.

"She was finally getting everything she had worked so hard for," a neighbour said tearfully.

Apart from being a flight attendant, Roshni was also a social media influencer with over 54,000 followers on Instagram. Her account, which was once a reflection of celebration of her journey, is now filled with condolence messages, with one reading, "You flew high, Roshni. You just flew a little too far." From a little girl with stars in her eyes to an international flight attendant with wings of hope, Roshni's journey inspired many, her close relatives said.