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An Air India passenger plane bound for London with 242 people on board crashed into a medical college after takeoff Thursday in the northwestern city of Ahmedabad, officials said, in one of India’s worst airline disasters in decades.
A single passenger survived the crash, according to a senior Indian official. The airline said there were no other survivors.
What to know:
- What do we know about the victims? Air India said there were 169 Indians, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese and one Canadian on the flight. Part of the plane fell on top of a dining facility at a medical college, killing at least five medical students and injuring nearly 50, according to a medical association. A local hospital has received 186 bodies.
- Who is the survivor? The lone surviving passenger is Vishwashkumar Ramesh, who reportedly walked away after the accident and appeared to escape without life-threatening injuries. “He was disoriented with multiple injuries all over his body,” Dr. Dhaval Gameti told the AP. “But he seems to be out of danger.”
- What caused the crash? That’s unclear. A video of the crash shows the plane with with its nose pointed upward, sinking toward the ground before crashing and generating a huge fireball. An international investigation is underway to determine the specific causes.
- What type of aircraft was involved? The plane was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, a widebody, twin-engine plane. This is the first crash ever of a Boeing 787 aircraft, according to the Aviation Safety Network database.
