Fourteen-year-old Akash Patni was sleeping under a tree near his family’s tea stall close to the BJ Medical College hostel building in Meghaninagar area when a cruel twist of fate pulled him in as a statistic in one of aviation’s worst disasters.

A tragic plane crash killed 241 people on board a London-bound Air India flight seconds into take-off in Ahmedabad Thursday afternoon.

The organisers have blamed ‘undemocratic pressures’ after authorities cut off funding. 

​The organisers have blamed ‘undemocratic pressures’ after authorities cut off funding.