Ahmedabad: Tragedy struck Ahmedabad on Thursday when an Air India Boeing 787-8 aircraft crashed into the BJ Medical College campus shortly after takeoff, killing at least seven people on the ground, including five MBBS students, a postgraduate doctor, and the wife of a senior medical professional. Over 60 medical students were reported injured in the incident, which has become one of India’s worst aviation disasters in recent memory.
The aircraft, operating as Flight AI171 to London Gatwick, carried 230 passengers and 12 crew members. According to Air India, the passengers included 169 Indian nationals, 53 British citizens, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian.
The Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) confirmed the fatalities, with FAIMA Vice President Dr. Divyansh Singh stating that the crash occurred around lunchtime, when most students and doctors were gathered at the hostel’s mess hall. “Many of the bodies recovered from the site were charred beyond recognition,” he said.
The ill-fated plane lost control minutes after taking off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport and slammed into the boys’ hostel building of BJ Medical College, erupting into a fireball that sent thick black smoke into the sky.
Search and rescue operations are ongoing, with authorities fearing more victims could be buried under the debris. Unofficial reports suggest that up to 25 people within the medical college complex might have died, though official figures are still awaited.
Emergency teams, including doctors from the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and volunteers from the IMA-Medical Student Network, have been deployed to provide immediate care at the crash site and at City Hospital.
The IMA expressed profound grief in a statement: “We extend our heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased and pray for the speedy recovery of those injured. This tragedy is a reminder of the importance of rapid emergency response and coordinated relief efforts during national calamities.”
Authorities are now focusing on retrieving the aircraft’s black box — including the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder — to determine the cause of the crash.
This horrific incident adds another layer of urgency to the ongoing probe, even as the Centre contemplates grounding the entire Boeing 787-8 fleet pending a safety review.
