For 70-year-old Nitin Joshi, a resident in the Meghaninagar area of Ahmedabad, it was a usual afternoon. He had just finished lunch and had stepped out to wash his hands when the Air India flight bound for London Gatwick passed overhead.
But, the low height took him by surprise, and he realised something was not right.
“I have seen the flight pass regularly. But, this time, it was flying extremely low. I knew right away something was amiss. And minutes later, we heard a loud noise, and thick smoke filled the entire area,” Joshi told THE WEEK.
The Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner departed from Ahmedabad at 13:38 hours on June 12 but crashed in a residential area minutes after take off. Video footage of the flight’s final movements showed it taking off but failing to get the desired lift and crashing soon after.
Joshi stays in an area which is close to the hostel for medical students where the Air India plane crashed.
Joshi’s friend, Ashvin Pandya, who also lives in the same locality, was not at home when the tragedy unfolded. However, as soon as it happened, he started receiving frantic calls from relatives to check on his well-being, and he rushed back.
Nitin Joshi (left) and Ashvin Pandya in front of the destroyed building from the Air India flight crash at Ahmedabad on June 12 | Amey Mansabdar
Thankfully, their locality lies beyond the back side of the hostel, and there was no damage there.
But, some 50-odd medical students have died in the crash. Many of them would have been having lunch in the hostel cafeteria when the plane crashed into the building.
Pandya questions how the construction of seven-story buildings was allowed in the flight path.
“Earlier, there used to be court buildings here. They made way for the medical student hostels. If we want to build even above three stories, we need to take requisite permission for it. But, how construction of these hostel buildings was allowed is an issue,” Pandya said.
Police officials have cordoned off the area today, with no one, not even the locals, allowed to enter.
The buildings themselves burnt black in the blaze, bare testimony to the crash where all of the 241 on board, except one, died. They may well have to be demolished and perhaps rebuilt.
But for the residents in the area, this crash will leave lasting memories.