New Delhi : A 14-year-old boy, who was sleeping under a tree near his family’s tea stall in Ahmedabad, died after an Air India plane crashed into a nearby resident doctors’ hostel in Ahmedabad on Thursday. The victim, Akash Patni, was sleeping in the tea stall close to the BJ Medical College hostel building where the London-bound flight turned into a massive fireball, minutes after taking off from Ahmedabad airport.
His mother, Sitaben, unsuccessfully tried to save her son from the fire and debris and was hospitalised with burn injuries. A video showed Sitaben running amid a massive fire and thick plumes of black smoke engulfing the area as panic-stricken people ran for their lives. Sitaben, who is admitted to the ICU at the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad, said she did not see the flight, but heard a loud explosion and saw plumes of black smoke. The plane crashed behind (our tea stall) and there was a loud sound. A massive fire broke out. Nothing was visible. My son was sleeping inside the shop and he died, she said. Suresh said he and his family were looking for Akash but were told by the hospital authorities that his body was kept in the mortuary.
The Air India plane, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, carried 242 people – 230 passengers, two pilots and 10 crew members – and was headed for London’s Gatwick airport after it took off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad at 1.39 pm on Thursday. The plane went up to 625 feet before it descended rapidly, and then crashed into the BJ Medical College and Hostel.
The crash killed 265 people, including 241 passengers on board, and left just one survivor, an Indian-origin British national, who is hospitalised. The Ahmedabad tragedy is one of the world’s worst aviation disasters in a decade. The crash marked the first fatal accident involving a 787 since its commercial debut in 2011.Following the crash, all planes under the Boeing 787-8/9 fleet of Air India will undergo an enhanced safety inspection starting Sunday, the Civil Aviation Ministry has announced.
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