How deadly Air India crash shattered dreams, wiped out entire families | Aviation

Ahmedabad, India — For the Patel family, April was a month of answered prayers.

The news arrived in a simple email: their son, Sahil Patel, had won a visa lottery. He was one of 3,000 Indians chosen by a random ballot for a coveted two-year United Kingdom work visa, under the British government’s India Young Professionals Scheme.

For the 25-year-old from a middle-class family, it was a pathway from a modest home in Sarod village, 150km (93 miles) from Ahmedabad, the biggest city in the…