Docs battle death and despair, still report to duty
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Ahmedabad: The blast was deafening, the fire immediate, and the aftermath haunting. An Air India plane crashed down on residential buildings and the mess on BJ Medical College campus in Meghaninagar, killing at least three resident doctors, and the pregnant wife of another doctor in one horrifying instant.
Some were pulled from the wreckage, others were saved by chance, but all were united by the surreal chaos that turned a routine afternoon into one of the darkest days in recent memory.
The front of the ill-fated AI 171 plane hit Atulyam-11, residential quarters of UG and PG doctors; the midsection disintegrated across a garden and road; and the tail landed on the doctors' mess — just minutes after a large group had finished lunch.
Sources said that three doctors — Aaryan Rajput, Manav Bhadoo and Rakesh Deora — were reported dead in the trail of destruction left by the plane which crashed onto the two buildings. Kajal Pradip Solanki, the pregnant wife of another doctor, was also reported dead. Resident doctor Jay Prakash Chaudhary was reported missing as of Thursday evening.
The crash site presented a harrowing paradox: a spectacle of widespread death and destruction, alongside inspiring acts of resilience.
Doctors had come to have a meal in the lunch break on Thursday afternoon when the aircraft crashed into the five-storeyed building. As there were more than 300 doctors present on the premises, according to some accounts, the number of dead and injured was higher. But the horror did not stop them from performing their duties, first at the site and then later at the hospital.
Dr Ramkrishna was among the survivors. "I was having lunch in the mess when a friend called up to warn me about a plane flying dangerously low.
I stepped out of the mess, and there was a massive blast. There was a lot of heat and smoke. People were running around in panic. When the smoke subsided, I saw the wreckage spread around. We brought out 4-5 bodies from the debris. They were doctors because they had aprons on," he said.
Earlier in the day, the Junior Doctors' Association president Dhaval Gameti was upset that he was unable to join his friends for lunch at the mess.
By afternoon, he thanked his lucky stars. "At 1.41pm, I got a call about smoke and assumed it was a small fire. I called Civil Hospital superintendent Rakesh Joshi for an ambulance. By the time we reached, Air India's four ambulances had already reached there, and we realised that the situation was much worse.
We pulled out 21–22 students."
Others were saved by minutes. Intern Kushal Chauhan had just returned to his hostel after finishing lunch at the mess.
MBBS student Manthan had finished lunch and was starting his two-wheeler when the plane came down. "I tried to flee as quickly as possible, but the fire caught the back of my friend who was riding pillion. He sustained burn injuries, but he is safe," he said.
"Had the plane come down few minutes later, many more doctors would have become victims as most come to the mess for lunch at around 2pm once their OPD is over," said Chauhan.
Meanwhile, 13-year-old Akash Patni, who manned a tea stall near the Civil Hospital doctors' facilities, died instantly. His cousin Anil had stepped away to bring him food. "I had gone home to bring a tiffin for him. I heard a blast and rushed back, but there was nothing left — just pieces of him," he told TOI. Akash had started working at the tea stall after losing his father during the Covid pandemic.
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