The North News
Chandigarh, June 12
Home Minister Amit Shah has confirmed that only one passenger survived out of 242 after a passenger aircraft crashed in Ahmedabad .He described the incident as a national tragedy and said the government responded within minutes of receiving news of the crash.
Vishwas Kumar Ramesh, the sole survivor of the crash, was in India to visit his family and was returning to the UK with his brother. Seated in 11A near the emergency exit, he said the accident occurred just 30 seconds after take-off.
The Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner, operating as Flight AI-171, crashed just two minutes after take-off from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on Thursday afternoon. The aircraft was carrying 242 passengers. Among those onboard were 169 Indian nationals, 53 British citizens, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian. Some aviation experts have suggested that a dual engine failure may have caused the crash. However, the government has not issued any official statement regarding the cause of the accident.
Former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani also died in the crash.
Talking to reporters, Shah said, “The entire nation is grieving this tragedy. The country stands firmly with the families of those who lost their lives in this unfortunate accident.”
He added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally called within minutes of the incident to assess the situation. According to Shah, the Government of India was alerted within 10 minutes of the crash, and central relief and rescue agencies were immediately mobilised.
The Home Minister confirmed that he had met the lone survivor, whose condition is being closely monitored.
At the time of the crash, the aircraft was carrying approximately 125,000 litres of aviation fuel.
DNA identification efforts are underway, with sample collection from families of the victims beginning within one hour of the incident. Shah said over 1,000 DNA tests are expected to be conducted in Gujarat alone, and samples from relatives of foreign nationals aboard the flight are also being gathered.
Shah said the Civil Aviation Department has accelerated the investigation into the cause of the crash.
