In a tragic incident, more than 100 people have been reported dead and several others injured when an Air India plane bound for London crashed in a building soon after take off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad on Thursday afternoon.
Among the dead and injured also include undergraduate medical students. A portion of the plane hit the mess of the B J Medical College where the students were having lunch.
International news agencies have quoted police saying that more than 100 bodies, most of these badly charred, have been brought to the hospital for postmortem.
Soon after the crash, the media and social media are flooded with visuals and photographs of the crash, the devastation in the area it crashed and disturbing visuals of the victims.
There were 242 board, including 10 crew members. Among those on board was former Gujarat chief minister and senior BJP leader, Vijay Rupani. The BJP leader was going to London to meet his daughter. Sources said that his wife, Anjali, who is in London, is on her way back to Gujarat.
It is feared that possibily there are no survivors. However, there is no official confirmation.
Green corridor was created and the injured were taken to the hospital.
The government and the police issued an appeal asking people not to visit the Civil Hospital unless required.
Most of the bodies have been charred beyond recognition and the authorities have asked for the DNA samples of the relatives of the passengers on the board to match these with the victims.
Sources said that the process to take the DNA samples has begun.
There were 217 adults, 11 children and two infants. Apart from Indian nationals, there were 53 Britons, seven Portuguese and one Canadian, according to Air India.
According to Aviation tracking site Flightradar24, the plane was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, one of the most modern passenger aircraft in service.
It was the first crash for the Dreamliner, which began flying commercially in 2011, according to the Aviation Safety Network database.
The ill-fated plane that crashed on Thursday flew for the first time in 2013 and was delivered to Air India in January 2014, Flightradar24 said.
The crash occurred just two minutes after the plane took off. One news channel showed the plane taking off over a residential area and then disappearing from the screen before a huge jet of fire can be seen rising into the sky from beyond the houses.
Air traffic control at Ahmedabad Airport, the aircraft departed at 1:39 p.m. (0809 GMT) from runway 23. It gave a “Mayday” call, signalling an emergency, but thereafter there was no response from the aircraft.
Flightradar24 also said that it received the last signal from the aircraft seconds after it took off.
Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, is on his way to Ahmedabad from New Delhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, other politicians, cutting across party lines, have expressed grief over the tragedy. Industrialists too have expressed shock.
Also Read: Bird Hit Possible Cause For Air India Crash https://www.vibesofindia.com/bird-hit-possible-cause-for-air-india-crash/
