Tragedy Of India Plane Crash Updates~~Over 200 Dead
I wanted to give the correct update about this tragedy. The count of survivors went from zero to one and so fourth.
Note: All times shown are local.Sources: Aerial image by Airbus via Google Earth; Flight data by Flightradar24By Pablo Robles and Samuel Granados
I have the latest below that we could get from Boeing and the Indian Government.
Adamfoxie Blog
The New York Times
Updates: Over 260 Dead After Air India Crash, Official Says, With at Least One Survivor
The London-bound Boeing Dreamliner went down moments after takeoff in Ahmedabad, India, with 242 people aboard. India’s home minister said he had met with a survivor. The victims included students at a medical college where the plane crashed.
Rescuers were combing the smoldering wreckage of an Air India passenger jet that crashed moments after takeoff Thursday in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, killing more than 200 passengers and dozens of people on the ground.
One passenger was known to have survived the crash, India’s home minister, Amit Shah, told reporters in Ahmedabad on Thursday night.
The plane, carrying 242 passengers and crew members, crashed into a medical college about a mile southwest of the city’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. As night fell and smoke hung in the air, heavy machines worked to untangle charred pieces of the aircraft at the crash site, and their operators treaded carefully to avoid all-out structural collapses.
A brief video clip circulating on Indian news media shows a man with injuries on his face and blood on his white shirt limping toward an ambulance, saying he came from “inside” the plane. News outlets in Britain are identifying him as Viswashkumar Ramesh, a British national. While there is a passenger with that name on the flight’s manifest, The New York Times has not been able to confirm that the man in the video is the same passenger.
Dr. Dhaval Gameti, who said he examined the survivor, told The Associated Press that the survivor was “disoriented with multiple injuries all over his body, but he seems to be out of danger.”
Ahmedabad’s police commissioner, G.S. Malik, said that emergency crews had recovered 204 bodies.
It was not immediately clear what had caused the plane, bound for London Gatwick Airport, to crash. Officials at the crash site said it was likely that it skidded after it came down, damaging buildings, before bursting into flames. Sections of the plane, including its tail, were left jutting out of the damaged dining facility.
Video verified by The New York Times that was taken from the rooftop of a building about a half-mile south of Ahmedabad’s airport showed the Air India jet descending steadily over a cluster of buildings before crashing. A large explosion is visible over the horizon.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India said in a statement on social media that the crash was “heartbreaking beyond words.”
“In this sad hour,” he added, “my thoughts are with everyone affected by it.”
Here’s what else to know:
Passengers: The airline said that the plane, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, had been carrying 169 Indian citizens, 53 British, seven Portuguese and one Canadian. At least 41 people were injured and receiving treatment, Commissioner Malik said, a number that could include both passengers and people on the ground. Campbell Wilson, Air India’s chief executive, said that “injured passengers” had been taken to the hospital. The authorities in Ahmedabad asked family members of passengers to submit DNA samples to help identify the bodies.
Crash concerns: It could take months or years to determine the cause of the crash, but safety experts questioned why the plane appeared to descend so soon after it took off. The type of plane involved, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, has been under scrutiny for years. Until Thursday, the Dreamliner had never been in a fatal crash, according to a review of accident data maintained by Cirium, an aviation data firm. Read more ›
Britain’s reaction: The British government said it was working with the Indian authorities to “urgently establish the facts,” and opened a hotline for British citizens in India seeking information about the crash. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that scenes of the crash were “devastating” and that he was being updated on the situation.
Air India: The airline, India’s flagship carrier, has worked to improve its safety record after several dangerous incidents. In August 2020, an Air India Express flight overshot the runway in the city of Kozhikode, killing 21 people. Read more ›
Mujib Mashal and Sanjana Varghese contributed reporting.
A doctor at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital said roughly 39 patients who were in the area of B.J. Medical College when the plane crashed into buildings there were in “mostly stable” condition.
A senior police official in Ahmedabad said 269 bodies had been brought to the main hospital so far. The official, Vishakha Dabral, cautioned that the exact toll would not emerge for some time, and after DNA testing.
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