Jamie Meek and husband Fiongal filmed themselves at airport saying ‘magical experience’ was over – minutes before Flight AI171 crashed in fireball killing all 242 on board
A British celebrity wellness guru and his husband posted a haunting farewell video just minutes before boarding the doomed Air India flight that crashed in a massive fireball, killing all 242 people on board.
Jamie Ray Meek, a London-based yoga enthusiast and spiritual wellness expert, shared his final Instagram post from Ahmedabad airport with the prophetic caption “Goodbye India” – unaware that he and his husband Fiongal Greenlaw-Meek would never make it home.
The couple’s devastated family have now spoken of their heartbreak after learning that Jamie, who ran The Wellness Foundry spiritual centre, and Fiongal were among the 53 British nationals killed when Flight AI171 crashed just minutes after takeoff on Thursday.
In an emotional interview, Jamie’s brother Nick Meek, a caretaker from Birmingham, revealed the family’s agonizing wait that ended in tragedy.
“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,” Nick told reporters, his voice breaking with grief.
“She is not in a good way. It is all very raw for her at the moment. It’s a lot to take in and we only heard this news a couple of hours ago.
Final moments captured on camera
The couple’s last video, now viewed by millions worldwide, shows them sitting together at the airport gate, beaming with happiness after their 10-day wellness retreat in Gujarat.
“We are at the airport, just boarding,” Fiongal says cheerfully in the 45-second clip. “Goodbye India!”
Jamie, grinning beside his husband, adds: “Goodbye! Ten-hour flight back to England!”
In a heartbreaking moment that has left viewers devastated, Jamie reflects on their journey with the words: “My biggest takeaway is to not lose your patience with your partner.”
The video ends with Fiongal performing a dramatic goodbye kiss to the camera before giggling happily and saying: “Going back happily, happily, happily calm.”
‘Magical experience’ turned to tragedy
Just hours before the crash, the couple had posted from their boutique hotel in Ahmedabad about their “mind-blowing” experiences during what was their first trip to India together as a married couple.
So it’s our last night in India and we have had a magical experience, really – there have been some quite mind-blowing things that have happened,” Fiongal said in an Instagram story on Wednesday night.
The pair, who married in 2022 after meeting in 2019, had been documenting their spiritual journey across Gujarat and planned to create a vlog about their experiences to share with followers of their wellness business.
Nick Meek confirmed that while Jamie had visited India before, this was the couple’s first trip together to the country they had fallen in love with.
“They both worked in holistics and had their own business,” he explained, referring to The Wellness Foundry, which offered psychic readings, tarot, reiki and yoga from locations in south London and Ramsgate, Kent.
Celebrity wellness expert
Fiongal had recently appeared on ITV’s This Morning in January to discuss people’s auras, which the couple described on Instagram as their “biggest gig so far” despite being “very nerve-wracking.
The couple ran successful spiritual retreats across the UK and Spain, building a devoted following through their “psychic development” courses and wellness programs.
Jamie had previously shared that his passion for wellness began after his father was diagnosed with cancer and later passed away, inspiring him to help others through spiritual healing.
The couple had celebrated their love with multiple wedding ceremonies, including one in Las Vegas in 2022 and another at Mill Farm in Gamlingay, Cambridgeshire, where Jamie wrote on Facebook about making “so many wonderful memories and fun to last a lifetime.
Family’s desperate wait
Nick Meek revealed the family’s timeline of hope turning to despair as they waited for Jamie to return home to collect his beloved dog.
“Jamie and his husband Fin had been out there for 10 days as a couple to do a wellness retreat,” he said, using Fiongal’s nickname.
The couple lived together in Ramsgate, Kent, where they had built their wellness empire and created a life filled with spiritual practice and helping others.
Final Instagram post goes viral
Jamie’s last Instagram story, posted at 1:17pm local time from the airport, has now been viewed millions of times as grieving followers share their disbelief.
The video shows him calm and cheerful, completely unaware that Air India Flight AI171 would crash just minutes after takeoff at 1:38pm, plummeting into a residential area near Meghani Nagar.
🚨 Jamie Ray Meek, a British citizen listed as a passenger on Air India Flight 171, reportedly shared a final Instagram Story shortly before takeoff. He appears on the official manifest under GBR 149261531.
The 242 lives lost
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was carrying:
- 53 British nationals, including Jamie and Fiongal
- 169 Indian citizens
- 7 Portuguese nationals
- 1 Canadian passenger
- 12 crew members
All are confirmed dead in what has become India’s worst aviation disaster in a decade, with the aircraft issuing a desperate “Mayday” call before crashing in a massive fireball intensified by its full fuel load for the journey to London.
A love story cut short
Friends and followers of the couple have flooded social media with tributes, sharing memories of the “beautiful souls” who dedicated their lives to helping others find peace and spiritual wellness.
The couple had been planning to expand their wellness business and had spoken excitedly about sharing their Indian experiences through upcoming vlogs and retreats.
Their final posts, filled with joy and love for each other and their spiritual journey, have become a haunting reminder of how quickly life can change.
As Jamie’s mother grieves the loss of her son who was supposed to collect his dog that evening, and as the wellness community mourns two of its brightest lights, the couple’s final message of going home “happily, happily, happily calm” serves as a devastating epitaph to lives cut tragically short.
The Wellness Foundry’s future remains uncertain as followers struggle to comprehend that the couple who taught them about spiritual peace and healing will never return to share the “mind-blowing” experiences from their final journey together.
Air India has set up a dedicated helpline (1800 5691 444) for families of victims as investigations continue into what caused the aircraft to crash just 30 seconds after what should have been a routine takeoff to bring Jamie and Fiongal home.
