Air India plane crash death toll rises
More bodies have been recovered following the Air India crash, as new details emerge on how one man survived the fiery crash.
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The death toll from the Air India plane crash climbed after the recovery of 279 bodies.
The revised toll from a senior officer in the city, who requested anonymity in order to speak to the media, raised an earlier figure of 265.
The increase makes it one of the deadliest plane disasters of the 21st century.
Air India said there were 242 people on board the flight bound for London’s Gatwick Airport, only one of whom survived.
At least 38 people were killed on the ground when the plane smashed into residential buildings near the airport.
The official casualty number will not be finalised until the slow process of DNA identification is completed.
Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian on board the flight, as well as 12 crew members.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner issued a mayday call moments before it crashed into a residential district of the city of Ahmedabad lunchtime on Thursday after lifting barely 100 metres from the ground.
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HOW SOLE SURVIVOR ESCAPED
The British survivor of the Air India tragedy may have been saved by an emergency exit door that flew off as the plane exploded.
Shocking footage showed the moment the Boeing Dreamliner went down in Ahmedabad – with an object seen flying away seconds before the plane crashed.
Vishwash Ramesh managed to survive the deadly crash which saw the plane fly into a doctors’ hostel in west India, killing more than 290 people.
Speculation is now growing that the sole survivor actually managed to escape thanks to a flying piece of fuselage – which was caught soaring through the air on video.
The plane was heading to London’s Gatwick Airport when it crashed just moments after takeoff.
Vishwash’s seat was 11A, right next to the emergency door, which is understood to have blown off when the plane struck the building and then exploded.
In the footage, a tiny object is seen flying away for a split second – right before the plane is engulfed in flames.
“Everything happened in front of me, and even I couldn’t believe how I managed to come out alive from that,” Ramesh said from his hospital bed on Friday local time, speaking in Hindi to national broadcaster DD News.
“Within a minute after takeoff, suddenly … it felt like something got stuck.”
Moments before the passengers and crew on board the plane died, the pilot issued a frantic mayday call saying the plane was “losing power”.
And seconds before the plane blew up into a huge ball of flames, the object can be seen flying away from the aircraft’s body.
Vishwash was the sole survivor, but his brother Ajaykumar, 35, who was on the same flight on seat 11J, is believed to have died.
BRITISH INVESTIGATORS SENT TO INDIA
British investigators have been sent to India to review the horrific plane crash.
An Indian-led crash investigation, including experts from Boeing, the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch and the US National Transportation Safety Board, began assessing one of two black boxes recovered from the site.
Aviation experts have floated two potential theories for the cause: the engines being hit by a flock of birds, or the flaps on the wings being incorrectly positioned.
Tata Group Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran – who leads the company that owns Air India – said in a note to all employees that the Air India plane crash was “one of the darkest days in the group’s history”.
“What occurred yesterday was inexplicable, and we are in shock and mourning,” he said in a message to staff.
“To lose a single person we know is a tragedy, but for so many deaths to occur at once is incomprehensible. This is one of the darkest days in the Tata Group’s history”.
INDIA’S PM TO CHAIR REVIEW INTO CRASH
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday (Saturday AEST) posted on X that he “chaired a review meeting at Ahmedabad Airport with top authorities and he also meet with the lone survivor of the tragic plane crash.
“Met those injured in the aftermath of the tragic plane crash in Ahmedabad, including the lone survivor and assured them that we are with them and their families in this tough time,” he said.
“The entire nation is praying for their speedy recovery”.
Prime Minister Modi visited the neighbourhood where the plane crashed and now India is reviewing whether all of the airline’s Being 787 fleet should be grounded while investigations are ongoing.
INVESTIGATORS ANALYSING BLACK BOX DATA
Investigators have begun analysing black box data from the deadly Air India plane crash on Friday, as the shocked sole survivor said he could not fathom “how I am alive”.
India’s aviation authorities recovered on Friday one of the two black boxes from the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner that crashed a day earlier, a senior state police officer said.
It can also be revealed the jet’s captain made a desperate mayday call moments before the crash, warning the plane was “losing power”.
“Mayday (...) no thrust, losing power, unable to lift,” Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, who had years of experience, said, before wrestling with the controls for a futile 17 seconds.
Disturbing video also emerged of the Dreamliner’s interior, taken two hours earlier on a flight from Delhi to Ahmedabad.
The vision, posted on X by passenger Akash Vatsa, showed on-board defects — including failing lights, airconditioning and seat-back display screens.
“I was in the same damn flight two hours before it took off from Ahmedabad,” he wrote.
“The AC is not working at all. And, as usual, your TV screens are also not working, neither is this button for calling the cabin crew,” Vatsa can be heard saying.
He also complained of “sweating like hell” due to the lack of AC, adding that this was why “Air India is considered one of the worst airlines in the world.”
RARE DOUBLE ENGINE FAILURE POSSIBLE
Mechanical engineering expert Sammy Diasinos, from Macquarie University, said video footage and reports suggested a rare double engine failure.
“An aircraft of this type should have the capability of taking off with a single engine – even if one engine failed, they should be able to safely take off. This suggests we’re likely seeing a potential double engine failure, which is extremely rare in the aerospace industry.
“I would expect this highlights an environmental cause rather than an engine or maintenance issue. It would be very unusual for two engines on the same aircraft to be on the exact same maintenance schedule, making simultaneous mechanical failure unlikely.
“There have been reports about bird strikes, which would be consistent with this type of scenario. We’ve seen similar situations before, such as the Miracle on the Hudson incident in New York.
“However, this particular airport is densely populated around its perimeter, which means the pilots likely didn’t have the opportunity to find a safe landing area.”
SURVIVOR DETAILS CRASH
Vishwash Ramesh has detailed his extraordinary story of survival as the only survivor of the Air India crash.
“Everything happened in front of me, and even I couldn’t believe how I managed to come out alive from that,” Ramesh said from his hospital bed on Friday local time, speaking in Hindi to national broadcaster DD News.
“Within a minute after takeoff, suddenly … it felt like something got stuck … I realised something had happened, and then suddenly the plane’s green and white lights turned on,” Ramesh said.
“After that, the plane seemed to speed up, heading straight towards what turned out to be a hostel of a hospital.
“Everything was visible in front of my eyes when the crash happened.”
The 40-year-old was found limping in the street with blood all over him amid the carnage after the passenger plane went down about 9.48am local time (6.48pm AEST) on Thursday.
“When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me,” Ramesh, a company director, told the Hindustan Times from his hospital bed.
“Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital.”
Ramesh recalled the horrifying moment the plane began rapidly descending and hitting a student hostel in the residential part of the city of five million.
“Thirty seconds after takeoff, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly.”
Ramesh’s younger brother, Nayan Ramesh, 27, said he told him: “I don’t know how I am alive.”
BOEING 787 POPULAR FOR LING-HAUL FLIGHTS
After first entering service in 2011, the Boeing 787 has become a staple for long-haul airlines, with 2598 ordered by more than 80 airlines, and 889 still awaiting delivery.
Its appeal lies in its lightweight structure, half of which is made from composite materials, allowing it to burn up to 20 per cent less fuel than older aircraft.
There are three 787 variants: the 787-8 (up to 248 passengers), 787-9 (296), and 787-10 (330).
According to the airline, those on board included 169 Indian nationals, 53 British, seven Portuguese and one Canadian.
HOW SAFE IS THE BOEING 787 DREAMLINER?
Australians shouldn’t be alarmed about flying on Boeing 787 Dreamliners, aviation experts say, despite the aircraft’s chequered safety history and renewed scrutiny following the fatal Air India crash.
The ill-fated AI171 service, bound for London Gatwick, is the first fatal crash involving the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, a long-haul jet in commercial service since 2011 and widely used across the globe — including in Australia and the Pacific.
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Originally published as Air India plane crash death toll rises
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