Ahmedabad plane crash: ‘Felt like an earthquake, then there was fire, heard screams'
With belongings like table fans, shoes and books packed into bags they could find, clothes tied up in bedsheets, MBBS students and resident doctors of B J Medical College evacuated the buildings that were their place of comfort until Thursday afternoon.
The police barricades had extended further, controlling access as heavy-duty cranes began dislodging parts of the Air India AI 171 flight thrust into the concrete walls of the Attulyam hostels blackened with soot.
As scheduled passenger planes continued to fly overhead, Deep Davla, a first-year MBBS student rolled a suitcase, his friend Ritav from second-year carrying more belongings in a cardboard box meant for mangoes, to load on their scooter.
Deep Davla was on the third floor of the hostel building at the time of the crash. Wiping the sweat off his face in the sultry Saturday afternoon, he told The Indian Express, 'Pehele bhukamp jaisa laga, phir uske baad achanak se aag aa gayi, phir chillane ki aawaz aayi, phir hum seediyon se jaane ka try ki wahan bhi aag thi (first it felt like an earthquake, then suddenly there was a fire, and we could hear screaming… then we went towards the stairs, there was fire there as well'). The boys then came to the balcony and saw vehicles burning on the ground floor.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner also blasted through the hostel building Thursday afternoon.
'Then a vehicle close to us caught fire and we thought it was best to jump as there were more vehicles below. So we climbed down from the railings to the first floor and jumped from there then we jumped the boundary wall and ran,' he said.
Davla came to study at BJ Medical College from North Gujarat.
There were resident doctors from Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala and other states as well, who were vacating.
Tadie Mra, a PG student of Gujarat Cancer Research Institute (GCRI), hails from Arunachal Pradesh and had moved in only four days before the crash. As he got on to a bus with his belongings, he told The Indian Express, 'On the day of crash, I was having lunch at the mess. However, I got a call for an urgent biopsy that was to be done. I rushed there. And after I reached the hospital, the crash happened.'
Tadie said that two of his friends sustained injuries. 'They have not been able to sleep since this mishap. Such is the trauma,' he said.
Tadie said that they have got good accommodation at their college.
A senior official of the B J Medical College said that the process of vacating started Friday.
Official sources said that the blocks have been 'badly hit' and the buildings have become 'inhabitable'. Sources added that the students who had left the debilitated buildings have been provided other accommodations on the college campus itself. The students are now taking back their belongings from Attulyam blocks, sources said, adding that they were allowed to take their luggage after getting a green light from the police to enter the building.
An MBBS student from Kerala, who was wheeling a bag and carrying some belongings, said on condition of anonymity, 'The place is not livable anymore'.
An official of GCRI said, 'GCRI has two blocks in Attulyam and 100 students were staying. Some of them took their luggage on Friday and the rest moved it today.'
'Most of the students are taking belongings that are very essential like books and clothes along with important documents,' the official said.
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