Almost a year after the AI 171 plane crash in Ahmedabad claimed 260 lives, many families of the victims continue to live with grief, anxiety and a fear of flying.

For some, the trauma has made air travel impossible. Others have sought counselling to cope with the loss of loved ones and the memories of June 12 last year.

Diu resident Rafik Arab has not boarded a flight since losing his 25-year-old son Faizan, who was among the passengers on the London-bound plane.

Faizan had been pursuing Islamic studies in the UK and was travelling there after meeting his family in Diu. His last text message to his father read: "Papa, I have boarded the flight and I am going".

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"Who could have imagined it would be his last text?" Rafik told PTI.

"We haven't flown since that day. Even the sound of a plane overhead unsettles us, a reminder of how 260 lives vanished in seconds," he said.

Faizan's mother and his two younger brothers continue to struggle with his absence.

"They miss him a lot," Rafik said.

In Surat, Mukti Vansadiya lost her parents, Divya, 60, and Arjunsinh, 65, in the crash.

"My parents were my only light," she said.

The couple were travelling to London to visit their elder daughter. It was their first international trip and their first time on an aeroplane.

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"It's a big thing for middle-class people to travel abroad. They were excited like children. I had told them that if they experience turbulence, they should not get scared and everything would be fine," she recalled.

The family had initially booked a different connecting flight but later switched to the Ahmedabad departure so the elderly couple could travel with Gujarati-speaking passengers.

Mukti still remembers her final moments with her parents at the airport.

"At the airport, I touched my mother's feet but forgot my father's. I ran back, touched his feet, and he patted my back. I can never forget that feeling — it was as if he was preparing me for a war," she said.

A few hours later, while she and her siblings were having lunch in Vadodara, they received the call that changed their lives.

After losing her parents, Mukti struggled with depression. She left her job at a travel agency and spent months attending counselling sessions. She now works as a social worker with a Tata Group CSR initiative but says the impact of the tragedy remains.

"Whenever someone mentions airplanes, the trauma resurfaces and I grow anxious. Even thinking about it brings a dull ache to my chest," she admitted.

"I still haven't watched the crash video. Anything related that appears in my feed triggers anxiety, and I've resolved never to fly again," she added.

In Dhanera village in Banaskantha district, Savdhan Chaudhary, 50, lost his son Kamlesh Chaudhary and daughter-in-law Dhapuben, both 26, in the crash. The couple had been married for only six months.

Kamlesh, who was settled in London, had returned to India to bring his wife after her spouse visa was approved.

"It was a big thing for a village boy to settle abroad. We were all proud of him," Savdhan said.

Kamlesh had planned to take his parents to London after Diwali and had started discussing retirement with them.

"He told us to slowly sell our livestock and stop working. He also wanted to help settle his younger brother in London," Savdhan recalled.

Kamlesh's mother now spends much of her time sitting alone in a corner of a damp room while relatives continue to visit the family.

"I still remember the last time I saw them; they were wearing the Chaudhary family's traditional attire at the Ahmedabad airport. Even though they were going abroad, they did not leave their roots behind," Savdhan said.

The crash also changed the life of Ajay Parmar, 28, who was injured on the ground when the aircraft crashed into the Meghaninagar hostel complex.

Parmar was riding home on his two-wheeler after lunch when he found himself at the scene of the disaster.

"I suddenly heard a loud crash. Before I could understand anything, my hands and legs were burning," he remembered.

Parmar, who was working as a gardener at the time, abandoned his vehicle and ran.

"After that, I remember nothing. The last thing I saw was my vehicle engulfed in flames before someone took me to Civil Hospital," he said.

He spent two months receiving treatment for severe burns. Doctors later advised him not to work under direct sunlight, preventing him from returning to his previous job.

The financial impact added to his difficulties.

His wife, whom he had married a month before the crash, later left him.

"She left as I could not work and my appearance had changed after the burns," Parmar rued.

"I still fear planes overhead. I witnessed that horrifying scene of nothing but fire, and sometimes I wake in the night unable to sleep again," he said.

(With inputs from PTI)