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LAST UPDATE | 13 Jun
THE BLACK BOX recorder from yesterday’s ill-fated Air India flight has been recovered by investigators after rescue teams trawled the crash site of the London-bound passenger jet in India’s Ahmedabad city.
Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu confirmed that it had been found in the wreckage, saying it would “significantly aid” investigations.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Kanan Desai said that 265 bodies had so far been counted – suggesting at least 24 people died on the ground – but the toll may rise as more body parts are recovered.
“The official number of deceased will be declared only after DNA testing is completed”, Home Minister Amit Shah said in a statement yesterday, adding that “families whose relatives are abroad have already been informed, and their DNA samples will be taken”.
The sole survivor of yesterday’s Air India plane crash which killed at least 265 people has recounted the moments before and after the fatal crash.
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who was onboard the plane, told India’s DD News channel “I still can’t believe how I survived,” as he spoke from his hospital bed today.
The 40-year-old told the broadcaster the plane felt like it was “stuck in the air” shortly after take-off before lights began flickering green and white – adding: “It suddenly slammed into a building and exploded.”
“For a moment, I felt like I was going to die too. But when I opened my eyes and looked around, I realised I was alive. I still can’t believe how I survived.”
Ramesh was in seat 11A, next to one of the aircraft’s emergency exits.
Addressing what happened before the incident, Ramesh told the broadcaster: “When the flight took off, within five to 10 seconds it felt like it was stuck in the air.
“Suddenly, the lights started flickering – green and white.
“The aircraft wasn’t gaining altitude and was just gliding before it suddenly slammed into a building and exploded.”
He added: “At first, I thought I was dead. Later, I realised I was still alive and saw an opening in the fuselage.
“I managed to unbuckle myself, used my leg to push through that opening, and crawled out.”
Commenting on his survival, Ramesh said: “I don’t know how I survived.
“I saw people dying in front of my eyes – the air hostesses, and two people I saw near me… I walked out of the rubble.”
The nose and front wheel of the plane landed on a canteen building where students were having lunch, witnesses said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who on Friday visited the devastated neighbourhood where Air India flight 171 went down, earlier described the crash as “heartbreaking beyond words”.
The airline said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese, and a Canadian on board the flight bound for London’s Gatwick airport, as well as 12 crew members.
Boeing chief executive Kelly Ortberg cancelled his trip to next week’s Paris Air Show, a major aviation industry event, to focus on the investigation into the Air India Dreamliner crash.
The crash has put the spotlight back on Boeing, which had been making progress under new leadership following concerns over safety and quality of planes made by the US aircraft maker.
In Ahmedabad, disconsolate relatives of passengers gathered today at an emergency centre to give DNA samples so their loved ones could be identified.
Ashfaque Nanabawa, 40, said he had come to find his cousin Akeel Nanabawa, who had been aboard with his wife and three-year-old daughter. They had spoken as his cousin sat in the plane, just before takeoff.
“He called us and he said: ‘I am in the plane and I have boarded safely and everything was okay’. That was his last call.”
One woman, too grief-stricken to give her name, said her son-in-law had been killed.
“My daughter doesn’t know that he’s no more”, she said, wiping away tears.
“I can’t break the news to her, can someone else do that please?”
The plane crashed less than a minute after takeoff, around lunchtime yesterday, after lifting barely 100 metres from the ground.
The plane issued a mayday call and “crashed immediately after takeoff”, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said.
Ahmedabad, the main city in India’s Gujarat state, is home to around eight million people and its busy airport is surrounded by densely packed residential areas.
“One half of the plane crashed into the residential building where doctors lived with their families,” said Krishna, a doctor who did not give his full name.
US plane maker Boeing said it was in touch with Air India and stood “ready to support them” over the incident, which a source close to the case said was the first crash for a 787 Dreamliner.
The UK and US air accident investigation agencies announced they were dispatching teams to support their Indian counterparts.
Tata Group, owners of Air India, offered financial aid of 10 million rupees ($117,000) to “the families of each person who has lost their life in this tragedy”, as well as funds to cover medical expenses of those injured.
India has suffered a series of fatal air crashes, including a 1996 disaster when two jets collided mid-air over New Delhi, killing nearly 350 people.
In 2010, an Air India Express jet crashed and burst into flames at Mangalore airport in southwest India, killing 158 of the 166 passengers and crew on board.
Experts said it was too early to speculate on what may have caused yesterday’s crash.
“It is very unlikely that the plane was overweight or carrying too much fuel,” said Jason Knight, senior lecturer in fluid mechanics at the University of Portsmouth.
“The aircraft is designed to be able to fly on one engine, so the most likely cause of the crash is a double engine failure. The most likely cause of a double engine failure is a bird strike.”
India’s airline industry has boomed in recent years with Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), last month calling it “nothing short of phenomenal”.
The growth of its economy has made India and its 1.4 billion people the world’s fourth-largest air market – domestic and international – with IATA projecting it will become the third biggest within the decade.
With reporting from PA and © AFP 2025
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