Image Source aljazeera
More than 240 individuals lost their lives when an Air India flight destined for London tragically crashed shortly after departing from Ahmedabad on Thursday, according to authorities, marking the most severe aviation disaster in a decade.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, carrying 242 individuals, was en route to Gatwick Airport, located south of London, when it collided with a medical college hostel during lunchtime.
At least one passenger is confirmed to have survived, as reported by the police, who relayed the man’s account to Indian media, detailing how he heard a loud noise just after Flight AI171 took off.
“We are still in the process of confirming the death toll, which includes those who perished in the building struck by the aircraft,” stated Vidhi Chaudhary, a senior police official, in an interview with Reuters.
She indicated that the death count exceeded 240, revising an earlier figure of 294, which had mistakenly included body parts that were counted twice. It remains unclear how many fatalities were on the plane versus those on the ground.
The identified survivor was seated in 11A, adjacent to an emergency exit, according to Chaudhary, who also mentioned that there may be additional survivors currently hospitalized.
“Thirty seconds post take-off, there was a loud noise followed by the plane crashing,” recounted 40-year-old Ramesh Viswashkumar to the Hindustan Times, which displayed an online boarding pass for seat 11A under his name.
“Everything transpired so rapidly,” he shared from his hospital bed.
“When I regained consciousness, there were bodies surrounding me. I was terrified. I stood up and fled. Fragments of the aircraft were scattered around me,” he described. “Someone grabbed me and placed me in an ambulance, transporting me to the hospital.”
He mentioned that his brother, Ajay, was seated in a different section of the aircraft. “He was traveling with me, and I can no longer locate him. Please assist me in finding him,” he pleaded.
Ahmedabad’s police chief, G.S. Malik, noted that the recovered bodies might include both passengers and individuals who were killed on the ground. Among the deceased was Vijay Rupani, the former chief minister of Gujarat state, of which Ahmedabad is the principal city.
(Newsroom staff only edited this story for style from a syndicated feed)
