* Air India crash in Ahmedabad killed 260 people a year ago

* Relatives of victims to gather near crash site for

anniversary

* Cause of disaster yet to be determined by investigators

By Sumit Khanna

AHMEDABAD, India, June 12 (Reuters) - Families of the 260

people killed when an Air India Boeing 787 crashed in Ahmedabad

a year ago prepared to gather on Friday for prayers and a

candlelight tribute to mark the anniversary of the disaster.

At B.J. Medical College, close to where the plane crashed

into a hostel complex for students, some of the relatives

attended a commemoration earlier in the day alongside

politicians, government officials and foreign dignitaries.

Damaged hostel buildings, which still bear the scars of the

June 12, 2025, crash, remain closed.

The government of Gujarat state has said the damaged hostel

block will be demolished and replaced with a new building, with

the help of funding from the Tata Group, which owns a 75% stake

in Air India.

PAINFUL MEMORIES

For mourning families and local residents in Ahmedabad, the

first anniversary of the crash has sharpened painful memories

and grief that had yet to fade.

Suresh Patni, whose son ran a tea stall and was killed in

the disaster, said the family was still in deep mourning.

"I can't believe it has been a year," he said, adding that

the family now survived with the help of compensation from Tata

Trusts.

Investigators have not yet determined the cause of the

crash, which was the world's deadliest air disaster in a decade.

A preliminary report released last year showed the Boeing 787's

engine fuel control switches moved almost simultaneously from

'RUN' to 'CUTOFF', starving both engines of fuel shortly after

Air India Flight AI171 took off for London.

'HOW CAN YOU BLAME HIM?'

A cockpit recording of dialogue between the two

pilots supported the view that the captain cut the flow of fuel

to the plane's engines, according to U.S. officials' ​early

assessment reported by Reuters last year.

India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said at the

time it was "too early to reach any definite conclusions".

In an interview aired by the BBC, Pushkar Raj Sabharwal, the

father of the Air India flight's captain, Sumeet Sabharwal,

pushed back against suggestions that his son - who died in the

crash - could be blamed.

He said his son had flown the plane for years and had an

incident-free career. "How can you blame him?" he said.

Pushkar Raj Sabharwal has asked India's top court to order

an independent investigation that takes into account causes

other than pilot action.

($1 = 95.4150 Indian rupees)