The Tragedy of the Happy Family on the Air India Flight 171: How the Tragedy Answers our Most Profound Questions of Life!

Air India Flight 171 crashed yesterday, on June 12th, 2025, in India, shortly after take-off. All but one of the flight’s 242 passengers died. Among the dead was a family of five (father, mother, and 3 children) whose selfie they took before the tragedy threw humanity into sadness, fear, and some form of anger against life’s cruelty or God’s way of doing things. In this brief article, I recount the events briefly and bring you life-transforming lessons and realities that could be your only string of hope when life strikes hard, just as it always will.

Air India Flight 171 and the family tragedy, but why?

Have you ever asked yourself – What does God want? And why does He want it that way? The Bible clearly states that God does or does not do anything for His Glory (Isaiah 48:11; Romans 11:36). And yet you still ask, why does or how does He find Glory in such? The truth is, we will never have those answers in this life, for with our present mind and wisdom, we cannot understand any of His ways or works. We are better off keeping quiet and just trusting that He has a good reason, all for Himself.

The story about the photo above says, the man went to the UK to figure out life. He worked for 6 years. When supposedly things looked promising, he said to himself, Oh wait! This is when I bring in my lovely wife and children, my family (do you remember someone who also ‘said to himself’ – Luke 12:16-21). Anyway, he boarded from London to India to get his family and go with them to London, his forever home. His wife officially resigned from the job at the hospital, the children said goodbyes to friends and signed out of their usual schools, and a day came when the whole family would board Air India Flight 171 for London, for a better life.

On that fateful day, the family sat in Air India Flight 171, and everything seemed well. Out of happiness of ‘I can’t believe we finally made it, honey’, they took a selfie and shared it with family back home in India in their family WhatsApp Group. The caption of the photo said, ‘Next stop: Home’. Well, what they could not tell was that the home they were excited about in London was not happening. God had it in his eternal plan, long before they were born, that on the same day and hour, the whole family would cruelly be destroyed to ashes in the plane. Indeed, the family is no more!

You would wonder why all the struggle (God’s struggles, for He indeed is the one who provided for their wellbeing all along) only to end their lives tragically like that? Why not kill them before they are born? Even, why are we born? We surely never requested to be, did we? But it is like we are punished for being born, for being alive? Life is cruel with us as if we ever asked to have it!

Air India Flight 171: The answers to the why the tragedy?

Wait! Did I say there are no answers to these questions? Well, I was wrong; there are answers. It’s just that they are bitter and more cruel (or crueler).

The family, irrespective of how sweet their smiles are, the innocence of the children, and the possibility of an honorable life they tried, mostly through hard work, does not make them anything more or less than just a pot! No smiles, hard work, evil or good, prayers or no prayers are enough to sway God’s mind or plan for us, not until He wills it so by Himself! I will repeat this, for I know it is very sensitive! I am saying, I mean God is saying, no amount of prayers or good works or even evil is enough to sway God’s mind or plan over our lives. Whatever He decides to do, it’s internally out of His will, not external pressures or influence.

God is the potter and we are all pots, clay! Most people hate this truth, for they never imagine their ‘authority, power, wealth, or fame’ being reduced to just a pot, clay, foolish empty tins! Important to note is that you and I are not the first nor the last to question God’s ways of doing things! Many more have! Israelites (not the ones bombing people in the Middle East) did! And God’s address regarding these perplexing realities is in the verses below:

I. Isaiah 29:16 (ESV):

You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, “He did not make me”; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”

This verse clearly says it’s absurd for humans (the clay) to think they know better than God (the potter) or to question His understanding and purpose. Of course, the foolishness of this world always shouts at this; why? By stopping us from reasoning with Him, He simply takes away our right or even the possibility to challenge Him or figure Him out, some clays suggest. However, in my view, God does not stop us from reasoning with Him. He encourages it. He just asks to be careful when our reasoning can no longer fathom stuff! In other words, reason with him until you can’t figure Him out. The peaceful surrender, trust Him.

II. Isaiah 45:9 (ESV):

“Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’? 

This passage openly rebukes those who challenge God’s decisions, reinforcing that humans, as created beings, lack the standing (in all ways; wisdom, morality, legal, knowledge, or even the right or audacity) to dispute God’s actions or purposes. Seriously, picture it! Your employee ordering you around (actually, they do, lol!), your goat questioning your decision to eat it (some try to escape anyway), and all those under your control questioning your intelligence. It is annoying! To you, it’s just annoying. To God, it is evil, dark, and sinful, for God is not ‘you’ that he can be challenged!

III. Isaiah 64:8 (ESV):

“But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand” 

I wish and pray that, with all our grudges and anger against God, we always end up here.  In this verse, the tone is more humble (or humbler, but I know most of you will resonate well with ‘more humble’), recognizing God’s role as the loving creator who shapes His people according to His will.

His will for the family in the photo was for them to just die tragically like that! Whatever he accomplished through that, you and I shall never know or understand, at least not in this life. To assume we are more merciful or considerate than God is a grave sin. I have talked and written about a similar concept: life is not about our choices, not even the best of them!

However, it is still sad and painful. And it is okay to feel down, feel betrayed, and let down by God, the potter! But always wake up to the humbling verse: I am the pot (clay), and you, God, are the potter!

Air India Flight 171: Summary and Take-Home!

The potter-clay analogy underscores God’s absolute sovereignty over creation. Just as a potter has complete control over the clay, God has the right to shape individuals, nations, and history according to His divine purpose. Humans are completely dependent on God (or something or someone else, for those who are too proud to proclaim God). Humans are not self-made; their purpose and identity come from their Creator.

Forget about the nonsense of the ‘big bang theory’. And even if the Big Bang theories were true, then God is the overall director. No matter how far we push it, there is always a limit, a vacuum, which only God can fill. As such, no matter how our lives turn out, God is still in control. All we can do is trust and Hope in Him.

And, as always, keep it #MiklahLife at miklahlife.com. Thank you.