A passenger aircraft heading to London crashed in a residential neighbourhood of Ahmedabad, India, on Thursday, resulting in the deaths of 241 people, although there is one reported survivor.
An AFP reporter witnessed bodies being retrieved from the crash scene, and the rear section of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which had 242 passengers and crew members aboard, was seen precariously positioned over the edge of a building it collided with around midday.
The government has begun a formal inquiry to determine the cause of the crash, and rescue teams continued their search through the mangled debris on Friday morning using sniffer dogs.
“The tragedy in Ahmedabad has stunned and saddened us,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after Air India’s flight 171 crashed following takeoff. “It is heartbreaking beyond words”.
However, even though there were initial fears that everyone on the flight had perished, state health official Dhananjay Dwivedi confirmed to AFP that “one survivor is confirmed” and has been taken to the hospital.
The survivor is thought to be 40-year-old Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, one of the British passengers. India’s Home Minister Amit Shah told reporters he had received the “good news of the survivor” and mentioned that he spoke with them “after meeting him.”
Air India said the flight, bound for Gatwick airport in London, included 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian.
The plane reportedly made a mayday call and “crashed immediately after takeoff,” according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Ahmedabad, the largest city in Gujarat state, has a population of about eight million, with the busy airport located amid densely populated residential neighbourhoods.
Air accident investigation agencies from the UK and the US said they were sending teams to assist their Indian counterparts. Tata Group, the parent company of Air India, pledged financial support of 10 million rupees ($117,000) to “the families of each individual who has lost their life in this tragedy,” along with funds for the medical expenses of the injured.
India has experienced several tragic aviation accidents, such as the 1996 incident in which two planes collided mid-air over New Delhi, resulting in nearly 350 fatalities. In 2010, an Air India Express aircraft crashed and caught fire at Mangalore airport in southwestern India, claiming the lives of 158 of the 166 passengers and crew aboard.
Experts indicated that it is premature to speculate on the potential causes of Thursday’s crash. The airline sector in India has expanded significantly in recent years, with Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), describing it as “nothing short of phenomenal.”
The rapid growth of India’s economy has positioned the country and its 1.4 billion residents as the fourth-largest air market worldwide for domestic and international travel. IATA forecasts that it will become the third-largest within the next decade.
