Ahmedabad Plane Crash: PM Modi visits the crash site and the civic hospital

New Delhi (India) June 13: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Ahmedabad on Friday and paid a visit to the scene of one of the biggest aviation tragedies, the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crash that killed 241 people the day before. 

According to officials, the prime minister drove directly to the collision site in the Meghaninagar area after landing at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Airport. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel was with him.

The prime minister visited the scene of the Thursday afternoon crash of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner (AI171) for around 20 minutes. Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu gave Modi a briefing on the plane's crash into the college mess and dorm rooms.

After that, the prime minister went to the city's civic hospital to visit with the accident victims. He also met Vishwashkumar Ramesh, one of the two survivors of the plane accident. 

He talked to the doctors and went to the hospital's C7 ward, where 25 injured patients are receiving care. The prime minister was in the hospital for about ten minutes.

Modi posted, "We are all devastated by the air tragedy in Ahmedabad. The loss of so many lives in such a sudden and heartbreaking manner is beyond words. Condolences to all the bereaved families."

"We understand their pain and also know that the void left behind will be felt for years to come" on social media platform X after he visited the accident site and hospital.

Air India said, "The passengers comprised 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, 7 Portuguese nationals and 1 Canadian national. The survivor is a British national of Indian origin" in a statement and confirmed the number of casualties.

Modi is at the GujSail office, which is close to the Ahmedabad airport, to meet with state and civil aviation officials.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Minister of Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu visited the area on Thursday to evaluate the situation.

The photos taken from the wreckage site showed people being transported into the nearby city civil hospital after their remains were removed and many of the injured were burned. The accident claimed the lives of at least five medical college students.

The collision took place just seconds after AI 171 departed from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad to London Gatwick Airport. The plane lost altitude shortly after takeoff at 1:30 pm. It then crashed into the residential quarters of BJ Medical College doctors in the Meghaninagar, catching fire and sending thick black smoke in the sky.

Aadrika Tayal