Investigators and rescue teams are searching the site of one of India’s worst aviation disasters, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has met with the lone surviving passenger, a day after an Air India flight fell from the sky and killed 241 people on the plane and multiple people on the ground.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, en route from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick Airport with 242 people on board, went down shortly after takeoff on Thursday, striking a medical college hostel in the western Indian city.
One of the plane’s black boxes has been found, local media reported, and operations on Friday were focused on locating missing people and recovering aircraft fragments and the remaining black box.
An official from the National Disaster Response Force said it deployed seven teams to the crash site and they have recovered 81 bodies so far.
The crash caused extensive damage and left bodies scattered both inside the aircraft and among buildings at the site.
‘The devastation is saddening’
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the scene in his home state of Gujarat on Friday, meeting with rescue officials and some of the injured in hospital. “The scene of devastation is saddening,” he posted on X.
Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau launched an investigation into the incident.
Medics are conducting DNA tests to identify those killed, said the president of the Federation of All India Medical Association, Akshay Dongardiv.
Meanwhile, grieving families gathered outside the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad.
Two doctors at the hospital said the bodies of four medical students killed on the ground were released to their families. They said at least 30 injured students were admitted to the hospital and at least four were in critical condition.
Witnesses described hearing a blast on Thursday before dark smoke engulfed the area. “We were at home and heard a massive sound. It appeared like a big blast,” the Reuters news agency quoted 63-year-old resident Nitin Joshi as saying.
Footage from CCTV cameras captured a fireball rising above the crash site shortly after the Dreamliner took off. Parts of the fuselage were found scattered across the hostel complex, and the aircraft’s tail was lodged in the building’s roof.
Boeing said it was ready to send experts to assist in the investigation, which Air India warned would take time. The crash marks the first fatal accident involving a Dreamliner since the aircraft began commercial service in 2011.
Air India CEO Campbell Wilson arrived in Ahmedabad early on Friday.
Modi meets lone survivor
The sole survivor of the crash was seen in television footage meeting Modi at the government hospital where he was being treated for burns and other injuries.
Viswashkumar Ramesh told India’s national broadcaster he still could not believe he is alive. He said the aircraft seemed to become stuck immediately after takeoff. He said the lights came on and right after that, the plane accelerated but seemed unable to gain height before it crashed.
He said the side of the plane where he was seated fell onto the ground floor of a building and there was space for him to escape after the door broke open. He unfastened his seatbelt and forced himself out of the plane.
“When I opened my eyes, I realised I was alive,” he said.
The crash claimed the life of Vijay Rupani, Gujarat’s former chief minister. Police said most passengers were still strapped in their seats when found.
The passengers included 217 adults, 11 children and two infants, a source told Reuters. Air India said 169 were Indian nationals, 53 were Britons, seven were Portuguese and one was Canadian.
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