A plane carrying 242 people crashed near a major international airport in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad shortly after takeoff Thursday, killing all but one passenger, who was seen walking away from the crash with bruises on his arms.
The survivor, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a British national of Indian origin, is “doing well” but “psychologically disturbed” by the event, according to the medical director of the Civil Hospital, where he is being treated.
Ramesh told The Hindustan Times that “it all happened so quickly.”
“Thirty seconds after takeoff, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed,” he said.
Ramesh spoke to his father just before takeoff and then again after the plane crashed, his family told NBC News’ European partner, Sky News.
He was dazed, saying that he couldn't find his brother or any other passengers and that he did not know how he lived, his other brother, Nayan Kumar Ramesh, told the news outlet.
“I don’t know where my brother is; I don’t see any other passengers. I don’t know how I’m alive, how I exited the plane,” Nayan Kumar Ramesh reported his brother saying.
He said he has “no words to describe” the crash.
“This is a miracle that he survived,” Nayan said of Vishwash. “But what other miracle for my other brother?”
The London-bound Boeing 787-8 aircraft struck a building where medical students were sitting down to lunch soon after it took off from Ahmedabad around 1:38 p.m., local time. It was the first crash of this kind of Boeing airliner.
There were 230 passengers and 12 crew members on board, Air India said in a statement. It said that 241 people were killed and that the survivor was being treated in a hospital.
The police commissioner for Ahmedabad initially said none of those on the plane survived the crash.
Among the passengers were 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, a Canadian national and seven Portuguese nationals, the airline said.
It didn’t provide the crew members’ nationalities.
Relatives of those who were aboard the Boeing 787 Dreamliner waited at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad and Gatwick Airport outside London for word of their loved ones. G.S. Malik, the Ahmedabad police commissioner, said “some locals would have also died” when the plane crashed into a residential area where offices were located.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said on X that it was sending a team of investigators to assist the Indian authorities.
Video posted to social media shortly after the crash and verified by NBC News showed plumes of thick, black smoke rising from the ruins of a building to the south of the airport.
Kanan Desai, a top city police official, told Reuters that 204 bodies had so far been recovered from the crash site and taken to local hospitals. That figure could also include those who died on the ground from the impact, he added.
The plane’s tail could be seen protruding from the wall of a building in a picture from the crash site that India’s central police force shared on X. Other images showed rescuers standing next to charred wreckage and a downed tree near a residential complex.
India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said in a statement that the pilots had many hours of flying experience.
“The aircraft was under the command of Capt Sumeet Sabharwal with First Officer Clive Kundar,” the statement said.
Sabharwal had logged 8,200 hours of flying time. His co-pilot had 1,100 hours, it said.
The plane crashed into a hostel for B.J. Medical College and Civil Hospital students and relatives, the Federation of All Indian Medical Associations wrote on X.
The wife of a doctor was found dead, and 50 students from the college were admitted to the hospital and are stable, the organization posted.
The skies appeared to be clear when the plane, which was scheduled to depart at 1:10 p.m. local time (3:40 a.m. ET) and expected to land in London at 6:25 p.m. local time (1:25 p.m. ET), took off.
The plane had reached an altitude of 625 feet when the pilot issued a mayday call for help and the airliner started to go down, officials said.
Video showed the plane's landing gear was still down when it crashed and created a ball of flames.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on X that the tragedy had “stunned and saddened us.” “It is heartbreaking beyond words. In this sad hour, my thoughts are with everyone affected by it,” he added.
In England, King Charles III said he was praying for the victims and their relatives, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the unfolding scenes "devastating."
The flight tracking site Flightradar24 said it received the last signal from the aircraft just seconds after takeoff.
Boeing shares dropped more than 4% Thursday. It said in a statement, “We are aware of initial reports and are working to gather more information.”
Plane crashes aren’t common in India, which boasts some of the world’s strictest air standards after it was rattled by a series of bombings and hijackings from the 1970s to the 1990s.
Once a state-owned airline, Air India in 2022 came under the control of the Indian conglomerate Tata Group, whose chairman, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, said an emergency center had been activated for family members seeking information.
“Our primary focus is on supporting all the affected people and their families,” he said in a statement on X.
