New Delhi: Among cabin crew members of the Air India flight that crashed after take off in Ahmedabad on June 12 were two women from Manipur – one from the Meitei community and another from the Kuki-Zo community.The two communities have been locked in a brutal ethnic strife since May 2023, leading to several deaths and a deeply divided state. The tragedy has led many to pause and note the heart-rending stories of the people who lost their lives in the crash.The Telegraph has reported that an official from Thoubal said that 22-year-old Nganthoi Sharma Kongbrailatpam was from Thoubal Awang Leikai in Thoubal district of Manipur. Nganthoi joined Air India in October 2022, according to the paper.Indian Express has it that Nganthoi called her elder sister at around 11:30 am yesterday to tell her that she would be flying to London that day. “She said she would not be able to call for the next few days and that she would get in touch after she returned on June 15. That ended up being her last call to us,” her father, Nandesh Kumar Sharma, told the paper.Nganthoi also has a younger sister. She joined Air India when she was 19 years old, after accompanying her friends to an Air India job interview on a lark while studying as an undergraduate at the DM College in Imphal.Nganthoi had moved to Mumbai and had visited Manipur last in March this year – a surprise visit to help her father who was hospitalised then.“She looked after us all very well,” Nandesh told Indian Express.The Kuki-Zo crew member on the flight was Lamnunthem Singson, who was in her late-twenties.Singson was originally from Imphal, but had to move with her family to Kangpokpi district after violence broke out, a Kuki-Zo civil society organisation member told Telegraph. The violence had left Imphal a Meitei-majority city, and Kangpokpi, a Kuki-Zo-majority district.Journalist Debanish Achom has posted on X noting that in Kangpokpi district, where Lamnunthem lived, “a heavy silence cloaked Ngambom Veng amid a gathering of residents at the small rented house of the young woman’s family.”According to Achom, Lamnunthem’s mother, Nemneilhing Singson, was told by her daughter: “I’m travelling to Ahmedabad to report for duty.” This was to be their last conversation.A person claiming to be Lamnunthem’s brother or cousin wrote on X that she was a devoted fan of the England football club Manchester United.Former Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh, who resigned amidst mounting criticism over his failure to contain the strife in the state, posted on X: “It is heartbreaking to share that two young cabin crew members from Manipur, Kongrabailatpam Nganthoi Sharma and Lamnunthem Singson, were among those who lost their lives in today’s Air India crash in Ahmedabad.”“Both were full of life, serving with dedication and pride. Their sudden passing is a huge loss for their families, friends and for all of us back home. May their souls rest in peace and may their loved ones find the strength to get through this unimaginable pain.”