An Air India passenger plane bound for London with more than 240 people on board crashed and exploded after takeoff Thursday in India’s northwestern city of Ahmedabad, and there were no known survivors, officials said.
Black smoke billowed from the site where the plane crashed into a medical college hostel and burst into flames near the airport in Ahmedabad, a city of more than 5 million and the capital of Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state.
Firefighters doused the smoking wreckage of the plane, which would have been fully loaded with fuel shortly after takeoff, and adjacent multistory buildings with water. Charred bodies lay on the ground and parts of the fuselage were scattered around the site. Indian army teams were assisting civil authorities to clear debris and help treat the injured.
A video on social media showed the jet slowly descending as if it were landing. As soon as it disappeared out of view behind rows of houses, a giant fireball filled the sky. The AP was able to verify the video by matching up the flight path of the plane from the runway with the crash site and the nearby residential area.
At the crash site, the tail cone of the aircraft with damaged stabilizer fins still attached to it was lodged near the top of one of the buildings...
It's been reported that there are also fatalities and many injuries on the ground.
All photos from Associated Press:
(Ajit Solanki)
(CISF via AP)
(Ajit Solanki)
(Ajit Solanki)
So many lives lost in one heartbreaking instant.
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