'She prayed with her mother. By morning, she was gone': Cousin of Manipur cabin crew narrates ordeal

Lamnunthem Singson spoke to her widowed mother for the last time on Wednesday night at 11 pm, telling her she would fly to London the next day and needed to sleep early for her Thursday duty. By the next afternoon, the 26-year-old Air India crew member was among 241 people killed when Flight AI 171 crashed minutes after takeoff from Ahmedabad airport.

"Singson last talked to her mother on Wednesday around 11 pm. She had said that she would fly to London the next day and wanted to sleep as early as possible because she had to report for duty early on Thursday," said her cousin Lun Kipgen. The mother and daughter held their routine prayers over the phone that night, as they did regularly before sleeping.

Hours later, Air India authorities called Singson's family late Thursday evening, informing them that her body had not yet been identified among the wreckage.

Singson carried the financial burden of her entire family, serving as the sole breadwinner after ethnic violence in Manipur displaced them from their home. Her eldest brother remains unemployed due to chronic illness, while her two other brothers are still studying.

"The 26-year-old was the sole earning member of the family. Her eldest brother is unemployed and suffering from a chronic disease, while two other brothers are studying," Kipgen explained. As the only daughter among four siblings, she supported their widowed mother, who "had struggled much to raise all of them."

The family's hardships deepened during Manipur's ethnic violence that erupted in May 2023. Though Singson was away from the state when the violence began, her family members fled their home in Imphal's Old Lambulane area, near the Manipur Rifles complex and Raj Bhavan, and relocated to a rented house in Kangpokpi district.

"When ethnic violence broke out in May 2023, Singson was not in the state, but her family members, along with other Kuki families, shifted to Kangpokpi," another family member confirmed.

The tragedy has left the family shattered. "We are devastated by the news. Her mother is in deep shock and refused to eat since the crash reports surfaced," Kipgen said. Despite his illness, Singson's eldest brother has begun travelling to Ahmedabad, while another brother and cousin departed from Kangpokpi to Nagaland's Dimapur before continuing to Gujarat.

Singson was one of two crew members from Manipur aboard the London-bound flight. Twenty-year-old Kongbrailatpam Nganthoi Sharma, another crew member from the state, also perished in the crash.

The Air India flight crashed Thursday afternoon shortly after departure from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, killing all 242 people aboard. "There has been no survivor except one passenger," Kipgen noted, though this detail requires official confirmation.

For a family already displaced by ethnic violence and dependent on one young woman's income, the loss represents not just personal grief but the collapse of their economic foundation. Singson's final conversation with her mother, filled with routine love and shared prayers, now stands as their last connection before tragedy struck.