At least 270 people are known to have lost their lives last week when an Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner slammed into the hostel block of B. J. Medical College in the city of Ahmedabad, state of Gujarat, India.

One of the victims was 26-year-old Sanjana Palkhiwala, who was on her way to the UK for a reunion with her college friends.

Sanjana's father, businessman Saurin Palkhiwala, is keenly aware of how it feels to lose a relative in an air crash. His sister's prospective father-in-law was one of 133 people who died in 1988 during the Indian Airlines Flight 113 tragedy.

Palkhiwala said: "When I got the news of the Al 171 plane crash, shock numbed me as I had witnessed a crash site before. Instinctively, I knew I had lost my daughter and prayed for her. I rushed home from the office, picked my wife Sonali and left for Civil Hospital," Palkhiwala told the Times of India.

He added that he and his wife felt that the only way for them to cope with their daughter's heartbreaking loss was to acknowledge that her death was the will of God.

"Sanjana was born to us 14 years after marriage. My wife is an ardent devotee of Goddess Gayatri, and when Sanjana was born, we were grateful for the divine gift."

Captain Kishore Chinta, a former AAIB accident investigator, told the BBC that one the black boxes may well be sent to the US "to compare the data downloaded in India with that provided to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)."

The Air India Flight 171 tragedy is the first fatal accident involving a Boeing Dreamliner. As yet, the cause of the crash remains unknown, but the company has been under scrutiny since March 2019 when the Boeing 737 MAX was grounded over safety concerns.

Al 171's flight crew issued a mayday call reporting loss of power and thrust shortly after takeoff, reporting a massive power failure. The aircraft was airborne for around 30 seconds - flying less than a mile before plunging back to earth. The crash caused multiple explosions and a colossal blaze.

The crash killed 241 people aboard the aircraft itself, and at least 39 in the hostel buildings. The sole surviving passenger, 40-year-old Ramesh Viswashkumar, told Indian media how he had heard a loud bang shortly after takeoff.

"Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed," he said. "It all happened so quickly.

"When I got up," he added, "there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me."

Mr Viswashkumar was seated in seat 11A. His brother Ajay had been seated in a different row on the ill-fated flight but did not survive the tragedy.