wffPM Modi visits Ahmedabad crash site, meets lone survivor as Air India tragedy claims 241 lives

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday visited the site of the Air India Dreamliner crash in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad that killed 241 people a day earlier. He also met the lone survivor, a British national of Indian origin, at the Civil Hospital, where several injured people are undergoing treatment.

The Boeing 787-8 plane, which was headed to London, had taken off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at approximately 1.30 PM on Thursday. It lost height in just a few seconds and crashed into the residential area of BJ Medical College’s Meghaninagar, leading to an extremely large-scale fire.

 

Bodies Retrieved from Debris, Five Medical Students Among Dead

 

Rescue workers labored overnight to clear the wreckage. Footage revealed burned corpses being dragged from the crash site and injured patients taken to the hospital. A minimum of 24 people on the ground were reported to have been killed, including five medical students.

Air India has confirmed that 169 Indian nationals, 53 British, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian were on board. Among the dead was former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, 68, who was going to London to meet his daughter.

 

PM Declares Tragedy ‘Heartbreaking’

 

Modi, Gujarat CM for 12 years, also mourned the tragedy. “It is heart-wrenching beyond words. My thoughts are with everyone who has been affected,” he tweeted on X. He was joined by Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel while visiting the accident site.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu also inspected the site on Thursday. The Centre has constituted a high-level committee to investigate the crash.

Mayday Call, Engine Failure Suspected

 

The pilot made a ‘Mayday’ distress call shortly after takeoff, officials said. Aviation experts suspect that the plane might have crashed due to a probable engine failure or bird strike. Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, who commanded the flight, had more than 8,000 hours of flying experience.

The black box, containing the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, is still unrecovered. Its recovery is important in order to know the last moments of AI 171 flight.

 

Relief and Compensation

 

The Tata Group, the owner of Air India, had declared ₹1 crore compensation for the family of each victim. The airline is required to pay a further ₹1.5 crore under the Montreal Convention. With the aircraft being fully insured, families are likely to receive a total compensation amount of approximately ₹360 crore.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport has opened partial operations. A passenger helpline number (1800 5691 444) has been established to help families.