Survivor of 1988 Indian Airlines plane crash found dead in Ahmedabad

AHMEDABAD: One of the two survivors of the 1988 Indian Airlines plane crash in Ahmedabad in Gujarat was found dead at his residence in Prahladnagar locality, police said on Monday.

The body of Ashok Agarwal (61) was found on March 8 in a decomposed condition inside his flat located in Noble Nagar Housing Society where he lived alone, police said.

“Agarwal’s neighbours informed the police about his death after his body was found in a decomposed condition inside his flat on March 8,” said Anand Nagar police station inspector Sajid Baloch.

He said prima facie it is a natural death.

“After postmortem, Agarwal’s body was handed over to his cousin who lives in the city,” he said, adding that forensic report was awaited to ascertain the exact cause behind Agarwal’s death.

A case of accidental death was registered at Anand Nagar police station.

Agarwal had lost his wife and 11-month-old daughter in the plane crash in which a total of 133 people, including six crew members of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad flight, lost their lives on October 10, 1988.

Agarwal and Vinod Shankar Tripathi were the only two survivors of the tragedy.

He had taken treatment for memory loss for four years and even been to the USA for a hip replacement surgery.