"Thought Pak Fired Missile": Student To NDTV On Air India Plane Crashing Into Hostel

NDTV

6 hours ago

When the walls of BJ Medical College in Ahmedabad started crumbling and a large amount of debris, including roof rubble, began falling, Keshav Bhadana did not think a plane would have crashed.
Instead, going by the damages and an "explosion-like sound", he thought that Pakistan must have attacked India and launched a missile that ultimately fell at the college campus.
"It was lunch time. At around 1.30 pm, I was eating with my friends at the mess when suddenly, the walls began to collapse and the ceiling began to fall. At first, it seemed like a dust storm. We then thought it must have been an earthquake," the second year MBBS student from Faridabad said.
"Then I thought Pakistan must have attacked with a missile. I put my hands on my face out of fear. The moment I removed my hands from my face, I saw suitcases falling from above. Then I thought it must have been a plane crash," he added.
On June 12, London-bound Air India 171 flight, belonging to Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 fleet, crashed seconds after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport.
Officials said the aircraft lost altitude soon after taking off at around 1.30pm. It crashed into the residential quarters of BJ Medical College doctors in Meghaninagar area before going up in flames, sending plumes of thick black smoke spiralling up in the air. The pilot had issued a 'Mayday' distress call, denoting a full emergency, soon after takeoff, the Air Traffic Control at Ahmedabad said.
Two hundred and seventy four people - both on board the aircraft and on the ground - were killed in the crash. The toll included nine doctors from the college and their relatives.
Bhadana's remarks on fears of a possible missile attack by Pakistan came against the backdrop of last month's strikes and counterstrikes between New Delhi and Islamabad, which were triggered by Operation Sindoor. Operation Sindoor - that targeted terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir - was in return launched in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.
The border states of Rajasthan, Punjab and Gujarat were on high alert in view of Pakistan's missile strikes on Indian territories.
Bhadana, who lost four of his friends in the crash, said: "I saw a wall falling on me. As I fell backwards, I suffered injuries on my hands, legs and head. My legs were buried under the rubble," Bhadana, who also suffered injuries, said.
"At the time of the accident, 50 children were eating on my floor. There were six friends sitting at my table. Four of them were killed in the crash. One of them was a very close friend of mine and I miss him," he added.
The student said the situation turned tense after the cylinders at the mess started exploding.
"We were on the first floor of the mess. Everyone was screaming... There was black smoke everywhere, so nothing was visible. Suddenly, the cylinders in the mess started exploding," he said.
"Many people had stopped showing signs of any movement. Maybe they had died. We came out with great difficulty," he added.
He said he was visited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the hospital. "He gave me a lot of mental strength. He told me not to worry and reminded me that I was a doctor," he said.
"We will go back to college soon. It will take some time for normalcy to resume. We will sit in the class and eat in the mess but some of our friends will not be there. It will be very sad," he added.