An Indian Plane Crashed 30 Seconds After Taking Off And All But One Of 242 Passengers Are Dead
“Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed”.
An Air India plane bound for London crashed approximately 27 seconds after taking off, killing most of its passengers onboard and several others on the ground, making it India’s deadliest aviation disaster in a decade.
Flight AI117, a Boeing 787, was carrying 242 people, including 169 Indian citizens, 53 British, seven Portuguese and one Canadian, and was headed to Gatwick Airport in London on Thursday, June 12.
Moments after it took off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad at 1:39 p.m local time, the aircraft sent a distress signal.
A video taken by a person on the ground showed the airplane struggling to gain altitude, before disappearing behind apartment buildings, followed by a massive explosion.
The plane crashed into a residential area, striking a doctor’s dormitory, killing at least five students in the building, according to AP.
Air India confirmed that only one person survived the crash, 40-year-old British national of Indian origin Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who told the Hindustan Times, “Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed”.
“When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran,” he said.
Images of the crash site showed the airplane’s tail stuck in between a building.
India’s prime minister Narendra Modi and UK prime minister Keir Starmer have both expressed their condolences to the victim’s families and promised to work with local authorities to find the cause of the crash and support the victims’ families.
This is the first crash involving a Boeing 787.
It remains unclear whether mechanical failure or human error led to the disaster, but Boeing has offered their condolences and said they will aid in the investigations.
Experts say flying remains one of the safest modes of transportations, but the crash adds to a growing list of aviation crashes over the last year.
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