One passenger survived the crash of an Air India plane headed to London that killed at least 240 people on Thursday, June 12, in Ahmedabad. Officials said the crash is one of India’s worst airline disasters in decades. The death toll includes medical students who were in a college hostel when the plane hit the building shortly after takeoff. Vidhi Chaudhary, a top state police officer, said: “Most of the bodies have been charred beyond recognition.”
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More Details About India Airplane Crash & 1 Survivor
A video on social media showed the jet slowly descending as if it were landing. As soon as it disappeared out of view behind rows of houses, a giant fireball filled the sky. Associated Press verified the video by matching up the plane’s flight path from the runway with the crash site and the nearby residential area.
Indian Home Minister Amit Shah confirmed that a single passenger survived the crash and said he met him at the hospital. A doctor said he had examined the survivor, whom he identified as Vishwashkumar Ramesh.
“He was disoriented with multiple injuries all over his body,” Dr. Dhaval Gameti told The Associated Press. “But he seems to be out of danger.”
Air India said the flight bound for London Gatwick Airport was carrying 242 passengers and crew. There were 169 Indians, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian aboard. The Boeing 787-8 crashed into a residential area called Meghani Nagar five minutes after taking off at 1:38 p.m. (08:08 GMT), per Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, the director general of the directorate of civil aviation.
Divyansh Singh, vice president of the Federation of All India Medical Association, said at least five students from the medical college died on the ground. 50 others suffered injuries.. Singh said some of them were in critical condition, and many people are “feared buried in the debris.” Gujarat’s former chief minister, Vijay Rupani, was among the dead.
What Does The Air India Crash Site Look Like?
Black smoke billowed from the site where the plane crashed and burst into flames near the airport in Ahmedabad, a city of more than 5 million and the capital of Gujarat. The tail cone of the aircraft, with damaged stabilizer fins still attached to it, was lodged near the top of one of the buildings.
Firefighters blasted water on the smoking wreckage of the plane and adjacent multistory buildings. The Air India plane would have been fully loaded with fuel shortly after takeoff. Charred bodies lay on the ground, and parts of the fuselage were scattered around the site. Indian army teams were assisting civil authorities to clear debris and help treat the injured.
What To Know About Plane Crashes In India
According to the Aviation Safety Network database, this is the first crash of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Boeing said it was “working to gather more information.” India’s aviation regulatory body said the aircraft gave a mayday call, signaling an emergency. Afterward, it did not respond to the calls made by the airport traffic control.
The last major passenger plane crash in India was in 2020, when an Air India Express Boeing-737 skidded off a hilltop runway in southern India. The incident killed 21 people. However, the worst air disaster in India was on Nov. 12, 1996. At that time, a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight collided midair with a Kazakhstan Airlines flight near Charki Dadri in Haryana state. All 349 on board the two planes died.
This latest crash comes days before the opening of the Paris Air Show. The event is a major aviation expo where Boeing and European rival Airbus showcase their aircraft. The companies also battle for jet orders from airline customers.
Boeing has been in recovery mode for more than six years after Lion Air Flight 610, a Boeing 737 Max 8, plunged into the Java Sea off the coast of Indonesia minutes after takeoff from Jakarta. All 189 people on board passed away. Five months later, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a Boeing 737 Max 8, crashed after takeoff from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The incident killed 157 passengers and crew members. Shares of Boeing Co. tumbled nearly 9% before trading opened in the U.S.
Associated Press Staff Ajti Solanki and Rajesh Roy contributed to this report. Additional contributors are: Sheikh Saaliq in Srinagar, India; Pan Pylas, Kelvin Chan, and Brian Melley in London; and Annika Wolters, David Rising, Adam Schreck, and Lorian Belanger in Bangkok.
