One passenger onboard the London-bound Air India flight survived the plane crash near Ahmedabad airport on Thursday, 12 June, G S Malik, Commissioner of Police, Ahmedabad, told news agency ANI.
"The police found one survivor in seat 11A. One survivor has been found in the hospital and is under treatment. Cannot say anything about the number of deaths yet. The death toll may increase as the flight crashed in a residential area," he told the news agency.
The survivor has been identified as 40-year-old Viswash Kumar Ramesh.
"Just 30 seconds after takeoff, there was a loud noise, and then the plane crashed. It all happened so fast,” Viswash was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times. He has reportedly suffered injuries to his chest, eyes, and feet.
A British national, Viswash, had been visiting family in India. He boarded the flight with his brother, 45-year-old Ajay Kumar Ramesh, who was seated elsewhere. “When I woke up, there were bodies everywhere. I was terrified. I stood up and ran. Debris was all around. Someone pulled me into an ambulance,” he told the newspaper.
His brother is still missing.
According to Hindustan Times, Viswash lives in London with his wife and child and has been based there for 20 years.
The Gatwick-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner had taken off at 1:39 pm on Thursday, carrying 242 people, including crew. Moments later, it went down and exploded in flames.
"Air India confirms that flight AI171, from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, was involved in an accident today after take-off. The flight, which departed from Ahmedabad at 1338 hrs, was carrying 242 passengers and crew members on board the Boeing 787-8 aircraft," the airlines said in a statement.
Former Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani was also on the flight.
The aircraft crashed into a doctors' hostel at BJ Medical College outside the perimeter of the airport minutes after taking off, where many undergraduate MBBS students are also feared dead.