This week’s Air India plane crash crash was one of India’s worst aviation disasters, killing 241 people on board and several people on the ground.
Indian authorities said Friday that an investigation into the crash is ongoing and is expected to include experts from plane makers Boeing and US aviation regulators.
The Air India plane crashed a few minutes after taking off in Ahmedabad, Northwestern city on Thursday afternoon. Surreal images captured both the final moments of the plane and the horrors of the crash site. Rescuers picked up smoking debris when they searched for the survivors.
Here’s what you know about crashes:
One of the planes survived
The only survivor was Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a British citizen of Indian origin, and passengers.
Dr. Dabal Gameti, who treated Ramesh, said Ramesh was thrown from the aircraft and walked to the ambulance. The doctor told The Associated Press that Ramesh is confused with multiple injuries, but he appears to be out of danger.
According to another Medic, Ramesh told him that he began to descend shortly after the plane took off, suddenly split into two, and abandoned him before it exploded loudly.
The airline said there were no other survivors between the 242 passengers and crew on board.
Video and photos showed crashes and damage
Security camera footage verified by the Associated Press showed the plane taking off and then turning slightly to the side. It then falls downward glides, disappears temporarily from vision, and hits the ground.
After a while, a giant orange and black fireball appears and rises up into the air.
At the crash site, the aircraft tailcone still attached to the damaged stabilizer fins remained near the top of the building. The jagged cavity of the plane was torn into the facade. A net of netting that cracked from the impact of the plane.
The ruined building in Ahmedabad is a dining area for medical students and they were having lunch when the plane crashed.
Witness and rescuer Indrajeet Singh Solanki said it was smoke everywhere, initially confusing.
“We could see a small piece of (the plane) burning, just like these wings lying here,” he said. “Through the smoke, we continued to rescue the injured people and rushed to the trauma centre at the autorickshaw civil hospital. We rushed nine people to the hospital.”
Air India has tried to overcome past troubles
The airline was plagued by tragedy and financial losses under previous state ownership.
In 2010, Air India Flight arrived from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, overshots the runway in Mangalore, India, and plunges over the cliff, with 158 of the 166 people on board. In 2020, a flight to an Air India Express subsidiary slid down a runway in southern India during heavy rains and split between two people. He killed 18 people and injured more than 120 people.
In 1978, an Air India Boeing 747 flight crashed into the Arabian Sea, killing all 213 people.
His career was under government control from 1953 to 2022.
The first crash of the Boeing 787
According to the Air Safety Network Database, the Boeing 787 was used in 2009. This was the first crash on the model.
The 787 Dreamliner was the first passenger aircraft to use a wide range of lithium-ion batteries, which can charge lighter, faster, and retain more energy than other types of batteries. In 2013, the 787 Fleet was temporarily grounded due to overheating of lithium-ion batteries, causing fires in some cases.
There was no information yet regarding the possible cause of the crash. Authorities were searching for crash sites on Friday as part of the investigation, but it was pointless whether the plane’s black boxes (flight data and cockpit audio recorder) had been recovered.
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Klug reported from Tokyo.
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