Police in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad said more than 240 people were killed on Thursday when an Air India plane bound for London with 242 people on board crashed on to a medical college hostel, revising an earlier death toll.
A British-Indian man is the sole survivor. Air India confirmed 241 of the 242 people on board were killed in the crash.
Local police said a previously shared death toll of 294 was wrong due to some double-counted body parts. A senior police official in Ahmedabad, Vishakha Dabral, said 269 bodies had been brought to the main hospital there so far. Mr Dabral cautioned that the exact toll would emerge only after DNA testing.
Rescue personnel at the site, as well as doctors and security officials, suggested that as many as three dozen people who were caught in the path of the crashing plane had been killed.
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The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was carrying 242 people when it crashed minutes after taking off at 1.38pm local time from Ahmedabad, the main city in the north-western Indian state of Gujarat.
Footage showed the aircraft flying over the city before disappearing behind trees and bursting into flames, in the world’s worst aviation disaster in a decade.
It is not yet known what caused the crash, which comes after a series of accidents involving Boeing aircraft. The disaster will bring new questions about the US company’s safety record.
The plane is said to have struck the top of the dining area of the state-run BJ Medical College hostel, which housed medical students, doctors and their families in the Meghaninagar residential area.
Those on board the Gatwick-bound flight included two pilots and 10 cabin crew. The passengers included 217 adults, 11 children and two infants. Of them, 169 were Indian nationals, 53 were from Britain, seven were Portuguese and one was Canadian, Air India said.
The sole survivor, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a British-Indian man from London, described seeing bodies all around him after the crash.
“Thirty seconds after takeoff, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly,” Mr Ramesh told the Hindustan Times.
He said he had “impact injuries”, including bruising on his chest, eyes and feet, but was otherwise lucid and conscious.
Mr Ramesh said: “When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me. Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital.”
Footage filmed shortly after the crash showed Mr Ramesh bloodied and limping as he walked to an ambulance.
The Ahmedabad police commissioner, Gyanendra Singh Malik, told local media there was one survivor who was in seat 11A, which corresponded to Mr Ramesh’s seat on the flight manifest.
Footage of the aftermath showed smoke rising over the area and firefighters on charred streets as people were moved on stretchers. In other images, part of the mangled plane could be seen sticking out of a building.
Residents told how the crash sounded like a bomb blast and “felt like an earthquake”.
According to air traffic control at Ahmedabad airport, the aircraft departed at 1.39pm (9.09am Irish time) from runway 23. It issued a mayday call, after which nothing more was heard from the flight deck.
Air India’s chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran described the crash as a “tragic accident”.
Tata Group, the parent company of Air India, said it would provide 10 million rupees (about €100,000) to the families of those who were killed. It said it would also cover the medical costs of those injured and provide support in the “building up” of the medical college the plane crashed into.
India’s civil aviation minister, Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu, posted on X that rescue teams had been mobilised and all efforts were being made to ensure medical aid and relief support at the site.
Residents told Agence France-Presse about the aftermath of the crash. “When we reached the spot there were several bodies lying around and firefighters were dousing the flames. Many of the bodies were burned,” said Poonam Patni.
Another resident, who did not want to be named, said: “We saw people from the building jumping from the second and third floor to save themselves. The plane was in flames. We helped people get out of the building and sent the injured to the hospital.”
The crash follows a series of safety crises involving other Boeing aircraft. The company is trying to rebuild trust after two fatal crashes of its 737 Max model in 2018 and 2019. Boeing said on Thursday that its “thoughts are with the passengers, crew, first responders and all affected”. - Agencies
