In the wake of the devastating crash of Air India flight AI-171, chilling accounts from survivors and witnesses have painted a haunting picture of the event that shook Ahmedabad.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, carrying 242 people to London’s Gatwick Airport, plummeted shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on 12 June. Only one person survived.

These are their stories.

Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the sole passenger to survive, described a surreal sequence of events in an interview with DD News. The 40-year-old said the plane “felt like it was stuck in the air” moments after liftoff.

“Suddenly, the lights started flickering – green and white. The aircraft wasn’t gaining altitude and was just gliding before it suddenly slammed into a building and exploded.”

Ramesh managed to escape through the fuselage after regaining consciousness and unbuckling himself.

Ambulance driver Satinder Singh Sandhu was the first on the scene after hearing the explosion while on lunch break. Seeing the smoke billow from the medical college, he immediately raised the alarm.

“There has probably been a plane crash. Send the fire brigade.”

Sandhu’s swift action mobilised emergency support to the crash site within minutes.

MBBS student Ritesh Kumar Sharma was eating lunch with three friends at BJ Medical College Hostel when the aircraft burst through the walls of the mess at 1:40 pm.

“Two of my batch-mates died on the spot after being buried in the debris… my leg got stuck… my third friend got engulfed in the fire and died on the spot.”

Thanks to his seniors who pulled him from the wreckage, Ritesh survived, though badly injured.

IndiGo traveller Chandrakant Patil witnessed the tragedy unfold moments before boarding his own flight. He noticed an ominous pillar of smoke in the distance.

“It looked like a forest fire. We took pictures… We got to know about [the crash] only after we checked our phones.”

The airport suspended operations, leaving many passengers in limbo.

Locals in the densely populated area where the aircraft crashed likened the impact to a bomb going off.

“… Around 1.30 PM, we heard a loud noise… Our house, our dining table, everything was shaking violently. The sound seemed like that of a bomb blast.”

Some, including resident Bahadur Kshatriy, helped pull survivors from the rubble alongside emergency crews.

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Source: Legit.ng