Latest news with #ByramjeeJeejeebhoyMedicalCollege
The Independent
8 hours ago
- Business
- The Independent
Air India crash likely to trigger India's biggest aviation insurance payout
The deadly Air India crash could become the most expensive aviation insurance claim in India 's history, insurance experts say. Investigators continue to probe what caused the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner to plummet into a crowded residential complex in to crash in Ahmedabad just 33 seconds after take-off on Thursday. Of the 242 people onboard flight AI171 to London Gatwick, 241 were killed, including 53 British nationals. The flight crashed into a hostel complex at Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College, killing several students and residents on the ground. Only one passenger – a British-Indian man seated in 11A – survived. The total liability could range from $211m to $280m (approximately £166m to £220m), according to estimates reported by Press Trust of India. This includes the full hull value of the aircraft, compensation for victims' families under international aviation law, and payouts for third-party property damage and loss of life on the ground. While the airlines' losses are expected to be covered under aviation 'all-risk' insurance, the payouts for passengers are governed by the Montreal Convention, to which India is a signatory. Under this framework, the minimum compensation per deceased passenger could reach up to 128,821 Special Drawing Rights – about $171,000 or £134,000 – though the actual amount may vary depending on nationality, legal claims, and additional liabilities. Air India has already announced interim compensation of ₹1 crore (around £93,000) for the families of the deceased. Given the large number of international passengers, including from the UK, Portugal and Canada, global reinsurers are expected to absorb much of the financial impact. India's state-run Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) also announced it would relax documentation requirements for victims' families filing death claims, accepting official government records or compensation proof instead of death certificates to ease the process. The full cost of the crash – in terms of lives, property and future safety measures – is still being assessed. Investigations by Indian and international authorities are ongoing, with aviation officials, engineers and anti-terror teams continuing their examination of the crash site and aircraft wreckage. Aviation reinsurance firms in the UK and Europe are expected to bear a major share of the cost, since much of Air India's insurance cover is handled through global reinsurers. The crash is already being described as the world's worst commercial aviation disaster in over a decade and the first fatal crash involving the Boeing 787. India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation has ordered fresh checks on all Boeing 787s flying in the country, while a joint investigation is underway involving Indian authorities, US experts, and a team from Britain's Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB). The airline, now owned by Tata Group, has not commented publicly on the extent of its insurance coverage.
Straits Times
a day ago
- General
- Straits Times
‘My mind is just not ready to accept it': Families of Air India crash victims grapple with loss, grief and shock
Ms Payel Thakor's mother, who works as a cook at the hostel mess the plane had rammed into, and two-year-old niece have been missing since the crash. ST PHOTOS: DEBARSHI DASGUPTA 'My mind is just not ready to accept it': Families of Air India crash victims grapple with loss, grief and shock Follow our live coverage here. – An agonising wait for family members of passengers aboard the ill-fated Air India flight AI171 continues to unfold on the sprawling campus of the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad, a day after the plane headed for London crashed in this western Indian city. All but one of the 242 passengers and crew on board were killed, with an additional unconfirmed number of fatalities feared on the ground. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner had rammed into a hostel mess for doctors studying and working at the city's Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College and Civil Hospital. Family and relatives have been trickling in from various parts of Gujarat, as well as outside the state, to submit their DNA samples, to help identify bodies. It is a process that officials expect could take anywhere up to 72 hours. A large examination hall with wooden benches at the medical college serves as the round-the-clock impromptu DNA collection centre. Among those there early on Friday morning at 3am was Mr Imtiyaz Ali Syed, 42, who had driven nearly nine hours from Mumbai. He hit the road right after he learnt of the crash, as the airport at Ahmedabad was shut for around two hours after the tragedy. His brother Javed Ali Syed, his wife and their two young children – all British nationals – were flying home after spending Eid with their ageing mother, who has not been told about the tragedy because of her fragile heart condition. 'Even my mind is just not ready to accept it,' he told The Straits Times. 'But I have to accept it today or tomorrow or the day after. We have to accept it,' he added. He appeared composed in media interviews before breaking down outside in the arms of friends who had accompanied him. Others just could not hold back their tears when speaking to the media. Family and relatives have been trickling in to submit their DNA samples at Ahmedabad's Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College and Civil Hospital. ST PHOTO: DEBARSHI DASGUPTA Ms Payel Thakor, in her 20s, spoke in fits and starts while crying inconsolably. Her mother, who works as a cook at the hostel mess, and her two-year-old niece Aadya Thakor, have been missing since yesterday. 'We have gone mad looking for them everywhere,' she said. 'There's not a corner left in the Civil Hospital where we haven't looked.' She had been out delivering food for the doctors during their lunch break when the crash occurred, and initially mistook the loud noise for an explosion in the mess, which had a large stock of cooking gas cylinders. 'Eveything was smashed. They just did not let us in despite us pleading to let us go and see our mother,' she told ST. Her 31-year-old brother Ravi Prahladji Thakor, who also broke down while speaking, added they are still hoping his 50-year-old mother and young daughter are alive. 'But we have not got any information yet.' Mr Munir Ahmed Chitthiwala, however, who was waiting outside the post-mortem room at the Civil Hospital, had accepted the painful loss of his elder brother Abdur Razak Chitthiwala, 81, who was on board AI171. A retired Urdu teacher and headmaster of a government school, his brother was on his way to London to meet his son. Instead of hearing of a happy reunion, the younger Mr Chitthiwala was waiting to receive his elder brother's body. 'Everything else is secondary,' the 66-year-old told ST. Mr Munir Ahmed Chitthiwala waiting outside the post-mortem room at the Civil Hospital. He had accepted the painful loss of his elder brother. ST PHOTO: DEBARSHI DASGUPTA Also enduring a wait was Mr Rizwan Vohra, 34, whose aunt, younger brother and five-year-old niece were on board the flight. They had bid each other farewell on a video call shortly before take-off. 'They were complaining about the air conditioning system and the flight attendant call buttons not working but they were told everything would be fine after take off,' he said. He had dropped them off at the airport and was on his way home in Vadodara, a city in Gujarat around 110km away, when a call from a relative telling him about the crash forced him to turn around. 'We are just hoping we get the bodies now as soon as possible, with the mercy of God and the kindness of the Indian government,' said Mr Vohra, who had been at the hospital for the past 24 hours. He was upset that so many police officials had been deployed to ensure security for visiting politicians, when they, he added, could have been instead asked to speed up the process of identifying victims of the crash. Officials and volunteers, including 300-odd members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a Hindu right-wing socio-political organisation, have been working tirelessly to deal with the tragedy as efficiently and humanely as possible. Among the volunteers was Ronit Singh, 32, a resident living nearby. He said it had been 'very difficult' to deal with the tragedy. 'Bodies kept coming in, in ambulances. Some had no hands, others had no legs,' added Mr Singh. 'We were lifting the bodies from the ambulance and putting them on stretchers and covering them with sheets to avoid them being exposed.' Outside, the all-too-familiar but now eerie sound of aircraft flying overhead shortly after taking off from the nearby airport interrupted conversations, as heads turned upwards to look at the planes. On the ground, snatches of multiple languages – Bengali, Malayalam, English and German, among others – emerged from the buzz as media crews from India and across the world converged at the hospital to report on the aftermath of one of India's worst air tragedies. Less than a kilometre from the hospital, is the site of the doctors' residential building. An air of devastation hung over the busy area on June 13, the day after Air India Flight AI171 crash-landed on the hostel mess. The crash site was barricaded for protection ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit on June 13, as well as to protect the authenticity of the site for investigations. Among those waiting to get into the crash site that morning were volunteers with portable pet carriers from Darshna Animal Welfare (DAW), a local organisation, who hoped to rescue animals injured in the tragedy. They reported at least 11 dead dogs at the site the day before, when they saved three others and five scarred birds. 'We should care for them (animals) as well. Saving them is also our responsibility,' says Mr Akash Chavda, 32, DAW's founder. Debarshi Dasgupta is The Straits Times' India correspondent covering the country and other parts of South Asia. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
NDTV
2 days ago
- General
- NDTV
NDTV Ground Report: Suitcases Strewn, Food Uneaten At Hostel After Gujarat Crash
Ahmedabad: In the compound of the Ahmedabad's Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College and Civil Hospital, JCBs moved charred, mangled remains spread over metres of land, now wet and muddy after hours of firefighting operations. Near a tree that mysteriously survived fire and a rainfall of debris, suitcases were strewn about, while in the mess of the first floor, plates of food remained untouched. The Air India Ahmedabad-London flight plummeted from a height of 625 feet within seconds of taking off from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Airport. It brushed past one of the six buildings in the hostel compound before crashing and bursting into flames. Of the 242 people on board, only one survived, Air India said in a statement. But the impact was also felt outside the aircraft too. A part of the plane that crashed into the hostel mess left five medical students, included four undergraduate students and a postgraduate resident, dead while many suffered injuries. At the hostel building, which is just meters away from the airport compound wall, a heavy burning smell lingered while the temperature felt higher than other parts nearby. On the ground was a mix of concrete, bricks, shoes, personal belongings and mangoes fallen from a large tree. Other trees closer to the crash site were charred and without any leaves, NDTV reported from the BJMC compound. Amid the debris of the crash, sat a piles of hundreds of travel bags that fell from the plane when it hurtled towards the ground. Authorities on the site told NDTV that 90 per cent of the salvage work was done. Inside the mess, a part of the roof was collapsed on one of the tables. Some suitcases, clothes and personal belongings of the plane's passengers were lying around while in one part, plates lay ready for around 50-60 men at the hostel. On many tables, plates with half-eaten and even uneaten food pointed to a sudden alarm caused by the aircraft's collision into the wall, possibly leading all those inside scurrying towards safety. Mattresses, now dusty, lay stacked in one corner. 108 Ambulance workers told NDTV that among those they rescued were two doctors who had burns on their faces. Three buildings within BJMC bore the brunt of the impact, including the mess hall. The adjoining two five-storey buildings, home to hospital staff, also suffered severe damage as the resultant inferno raged through them. The buildings were completely blackened. Rescue teams, comprising personnel from the Gujarat Police, Fire Department, and multiple emergency agencies, were still at work late into the night. Earth movers were deployed to break through collapsed walls and concrete rubble in a desperate bid to reach survivors and recover bodies. As many as 265 bodies had been brought to the civil hospital in the city, police said. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who arrived in Ahmedabad in the evening, said the temperature inside the crashed Boeing 787 Dreamliner was so high that there was no chance to rescue anyone, though one passenger did miraculously survive. According to Air India, of the 230 passengers, 169 were Indians, 53 British, seven Portuguese and one Canadian. The other 12 people on board were two pilots and 10 crew members. Search was also on for the aircraft's black box -- the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder -- for clues to understand what happened in the last crucial moments of the doomed flight to London's Gatwick airport.
