Rescue workers and sniffer dogs scoured the wreckage on Friday following the catastrophic crash of a London-bound Air India passenger jet in Ahmedabad, India, which claimed the lives of at least 265 individuals.
“Rescue teams with sniffer dogs combed the crash site Friday of a London-bound passenger jet which ploughed into a residential area of India’s Ahmedabad city, killing at least 265 people on board and on the ground.”
Amid the devastation, a glimmer of hope emerged as one person miraculously survived the fiery wreck.
The aircraft, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner carrying 242 passengers and crew, slammed into a neighborhood housing medical staff.
The tail end of the aircraft was left embedded in the upper floor of a hospital hostel, while the nose reportedly crashed into a nearby canteen where students were having lunch.
According to Deputy Commissioner of Police Kanan Desai, 265 bodies have been recovered so far, indicating that at least 24 casualties occurred on the ground.
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Authorities warned that the death toll could rise further as remains continue to be identified.
Home Minister Amit Shah said DNA verification would be required to finalize the official casualty list. “Families whose relatives are abroad have already been informed, and their DNA samples will be taken,” he added in a Thursday night statement.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited the crash site on Friday, expressed deep sorrow. “Heartbreaking beyond words,” he posted, reflecting the national grief.
The ill-fated flight, destined for London Gatwick, carried a diverse group of passengers: 169 Indians, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese nationals, a Canadian citizen, and 12 crew members.
Air India identified the sole survivor as Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a British citizen of Indian descent, who is currently being treated at a hospital.
His brother, Nayan Kumar Ramesh, told the Press Association in Leicester, “He said, ‘I have no idea how I exited the plane.’”
At an emergency center in Ahmedabad, grief-stricken relatives lined up to provide DNA samples to aid identification.
Among them was 40-year-old Ashfaque Nanabawa, searching for his cousin Akeel, who was on board with his wife and toddler.
“He called us and he said: ‘I am in the plane and I have boarded safely and everything was okay.’ That was his last call,” he recalled.
Another grieving woman, too overwhelmed to share her name, spoke quietly through tears. Her son-in-law had perished, but she hadn’t yet told her daughter.
“My daughter doesn’t know that he’s no more,” she said. “I can’t break the news to her, can someone else do that please?”
The plane went down less than a minute after takeoff, barely 100 meters above the ground, around Thursday lunchtime.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation confirmed a mayday signal was issued moments before the aircraft crashed.
Ahmedabad, a city of eight million in Gujarat state, has residential zones packed tightly around its busy airport. “One half of the plane crashed into the residential building where doctors lived with their families,” said a local doctor named Krishna.
Boeing, the aircraft manufacturer, confirmed its communication with Air India and stated it was ready to assist. If confirmed, this would be the first-ever crash involving a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
International investigators from the UK and the US have joined Indian teams to probe the cause of the disaster.
Tata Group, which owns Air India, pledged compensation of 10 million rupees (approximately $117,000) to the families of each deceased victim and offered to cover the treatment costs for the injured.
India has faced several tragic air disasters over the years, including a deadly mid-air collision over New Delhi in 1996 and a 2010 crash in Mangalore that killed 158 people.
Aviation experts cautioned against drawing early conclusions but pointed to a potential double engine failure.
Jason Knight, a fluid mechanics expert at the University of Portsmouth, noted, “It is very unlikely that the plane was overweight or carrying too much fuel… The most likely cause of a double engine failure is a bird strike.”
India’s aviation sector has seen explosive growth recently. Willie Walsh, Director General of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), recently hailed the rise of Indian aviation as “nothing short of phenomenal.”
With its population and expanding economy, India is poised to become the world’s third-largest air travel market within the decade.