A couple who died in the Air India crash recorded a video celebrating the end of their vacation just moments before boarding the doomed flight.
Fiongal Greenlaw-Meek, 39 and his husband, Jamie Meek, 44, appeared in good spirits as they sat at the gate and reflected on their trip to India.
“We are at the airport, just boarding. Goodbye India,” Greenlaw-Meek said, while Meek noted the “10-hour flight” to London that was supposed to follow.
“My biggest takeaway is: don’t lose your patience with your partner,” Greenlaw-Meek joked, prompting Meek to respond with mock annoyance, “You already snapped at me while having chai at the airport! I see you’ve learned nothing.”
Greenlaw-Meek broke into laughter before adding, “Going back, happily, happily, happily calm.”
The couple then boarded flight AI171. Upon takeoff, the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner stayed airborne for only 30 seconds before going down in a residential area.
The crash killed 241 out of the 242 people on board—including Greenlaw-Meek and Meek—and several more on the ground.
Meek’s brother, Nick Meek, told The Times that the devastating news had been “a lot to take in” and said their mother was “not in a good way.”
“It is all very raw for her at the moment,” said Nick, who lives in Birmingham, England. “We were expecting [him] home tonight. He should have landed at 6.30pm and then driven up for about 11 to get his dog who is staying with our mum.”
The couple, who ran The Wellness Foundry, a wellness brand offering psychic readings and spiritual workshops, posted their last video to their company’s Instagram account, according to The Independent, but it appears to have been taken down.
In another video posted the night before the flight, Greenlaw-Meek said they’d had a “magical experience” in India and that “some quite mind-blowing things” had happened, according to The Telegraph.
Meek chimed in: “We really have been on quite a journey and then just spending the last night here in this amazing hotel and we have just had the most delicious thali food. It was a perfect way to round up the trip. Excited to share it all with you.”
Air India said 169 of the 230 passengers on the fateful plane were Indian nationals, 53 were British nationals, seven were Portuguese, and one was Canadian. It’s the first fatal accident involving a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
