Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India] June 13 : Raju Bhai Kapadia, a man who lives near the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, where an Air India plane crashed on Friday, recounted the horror following the mishap. The airline said only one out of the 242 people on board the aircraft survived the crash.
"My house is 700m away from the crash site. We got to know that a massive fire had broken out," a local Kapadia told ANI on Friday.
Upon reaching the scene, the resident said he saw police, the fire department, and many local people, including BJP workers, present.
"I reached the spot and I saw that the police, the fire department and a lot of local people, including workers of BJP, have also come there...It was a very horrible scene, as everywhere there were bodies, completely burnt bodies," the resident added.
Another local who resides near the AI-171 crash site said, "...My house is located 100-200m away from the crash site. The fire was still burning when I arrived...It was a horrible sight to witness. There were half-cut and completely burnt bodies all over the area... Meghani Nagar has active roads. The situation of local commuters is still not known..."
The AI-171 Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 aeroplane bound for London's Gatwick had crashed shortly after it took off from the Ahmedabad International Airport on Thursday. The airlines said only one out of the 242 people on board the aircraft survived the crash, claiming the lives of 241 people on board the Boeing 787-8, Air India flight 171, including 12 crew members, Air India confirmed post-midnight on Friday.
The aircraft was piloted by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, a Line Training Captain with 8,200 hours of flying experience, assisted by First Officer Clive Kundar, who had logged 1,100 flying hours. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is a division of the Ministry of Civil Aviation tasked with probing aircraft accidents in India.
A formal investigation has been launched by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) into the deadly crash of Air India flight 171 that killed 241 people onboard, Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu confirmed on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday visited the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital and met with Vishwashkumar Ramesh, the lone person to miraculously survive the Air India plane crash a day ago in which all the other 241 passengers died.
The Prime Minister, who arrived in the city earlier today, also met with others admitted to the same hospital with injuries sustained after the Air India flight to London crashed, soon after it took off from the Ahmedabad International Airport, into a medical college complex in Meghaninagar nearby. Before arriving at the hospital, PM Modi inspected the plane crash site and took stock of the ground situation. He also held a review meeting with the officials at the airport in Ahmedabad.