Last goodbye: Manipuri flight attendant's final message to family

• IMPHAL — Kongbrailatpam Nganthoi Sharma sent a final message to her family just before takeoff: “I'm going to London. In a few minutes, we'll take off. We may not be able to talk for a while.” That message would be the last her loved ones received.
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• Nganthoi, a 20-year-old flight attendant from Thoubal district in Manipur, was among the 12 cabin crew members on board Air India flight AI171, which crashed shortly after taking off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad on Thursday. The crash claimed the lives of 242 people, including Nganthoi and another Manipuri crew member, 26-year-old Lamnunthem Singson from Kangpokpi district.
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• “We were shocked when we heard about the incident through social media,” said Nganthoi’s uncle, Kongbrailatpam Sanatomba (54), speaking from Thoubal Awang Lekai. He described her as a bright, hardworking student who had kept her cabin crew application a secret until she was selected through campus recruitment.

Also read: 2 Manipur women among 242 in Ahmedabad plane crash

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• Nganthoi is survived by her father Nandeshkumar, a Brahmin priest; her mother Mala, a homemaker; elder sister Geetanjali, a schoolteacher; and younger sister Chaoba, who is studying in Class 10. On Friday, Geetanjali and cousin Gudi left for Ahmedabad via New Delhi for DNA identification, joined by other relatives in Delhi.
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• Lamnunthem Singson, the only daughter in her family of three siblings, had spoken to her widowed mother, Nemneilhing Singson, on Wednesday night, telling her she was flying to London the next day and needed rest.
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• Having lost her father years ago, Lamnunthem was the family’s sole breadwinner. She hailed from Old Lambulane in Imphal but had been residing in Kangpokpi as an internally displaced person, according to the Thadou Students’ Association (TSA). “She had recently joined Air India in 2024, and her untimely death is a great loss to her family and the Thadou community,” the TSA said in a condolence message.
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• In a press release on Friday, Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla expressed deep sorrow over the tragic loss of the two young women. “Their lives held great promise, and their untimely passing is a deep loss not only to their families but to the entire state,” he said, extending condolences and solidarity to the grieving families.
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• Former Chief Ministers N Biren Singh and Okram Ibobi Singh also expressed grief over the incident and offered prayers for the recovery of those injured in the crash.