Air India crash: NDRF personnel arrive at crash site with sniffer dogs

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel returned with a sniffer dog squad to the Air India flight 171 plane crash site to carry out operations to search for any remaining survivors.

NDRF has ramped up its presence in Ahmedabad, deploying teams to handle the emergency after Air India flight 171, a Boeing 787-8, crashed shortly after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on Thursday.

NDRF Inspector Vinay Kumar said that the force has recovered 81 bodies so far and has deployed seven teams to help with the emergency situation.     

"The operation is not yet complete. It is ongoing. We have recovered 81 bodies so far. We can't say anything about the total number of deaths as of now. Seven teams of NDRF have been deployed," Kumar told reporters here.

 

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane with 242 people onboard, which was headed for London's Gatwick Airport had only one survivor after it crashed shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad international airport on June 12, as confirmed by the airline's post-midnight report on Friday.

The plane crashed in a residential area and hit a medical college hostel.

The flight carried 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese nationals, and one Canadian national.     

The passenger plane crashed near Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport into a resident doctors' hostel building shortly after take-off. Miraculously, one person has survived the deadly crash, the airline authorities said, adding that the survivor was a British national of Indian origin.

The aircraft was piloted by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, a Line Training Captain with 8,200 hours of flying experience, assisted by First Officer Clive Kundar, who had logged 1,100 flying hours.

According to Air Traffic Control (ATC), the aircraft departed from Ahmedabad at 1339 IST (0809 UTC) from runway 23. It made a Mayday call to ATC, but thereafter, the aircraft did not respond to the calls made by ATC. 

 

 

Immediately after departing Runway 23, the aircraft fell on the ground outside the airport perimeter. An official stated that heavy black smoke was emanating from the accident site.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the crash site in Ahmedabad this morning.

Earlier on June 12, Home Minister Amit Shah held a meeting with the Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and obtained detailed information regarding the incident. 

 

Shah said on Thursday that there was no chance of saving anyone in the London-bound Air India plane crash because of the high temperature caused by the burning of almost 1.25 lakh litres of fuel in the aircraft.

Expressing condolences to family members of those killed, Shah said the exact number of deaths will be officially released only after DNA tests. Shah revealed that approximately 1000 DNA tests have to be conducted so far.

"The plane carried almost 125,000 litres of fuel, and due to the high temperature, there was no chance of saving anyone... I visited the crash site," the Home Minister told the media.

"In just 10 minutes of the incident, we got the information. After that, I informed the Prime Minister, the Gujrat Home Minister, the Control Room of the Home Department, the Civil Aviation Department and the Civil Aviation Minister. The Prime Minister instantly called back, and the personnel from the Union and state governments jumped in jointly for the relief and rescue operations," he added.