Gujarat plane crash: At least 4 dead on campus, delay in take-off averted a bigger tragedy

AHMEDABAD: One of India's worst air tragedies also claimed victims on the ground as an Air India 787 Dreamliner that lost control right after take-off from Ahmedabad airport Thursday afternoon plunged into residential buildings and a mess on BJ Medical College campus, leaving at least four dead, among them three resident doctors and another doctor's pregnant wife.

The nose of the AI 171 plane hit Atulyam-11, residential quarters for UG and PG doctors at the medical college. Its midsection disintegrated across a garden and road, and the tail cut through the doctors' mess. Many more lives might have been on the line had the flight taken off on time. Minutes before the crash, a large group had finished lunch at the mess. AI-171 took off 29 minutes behind its original schedule.


Sources said the three doctors - Aaryan Rajput, Manav Bhadoo and Rakesh Deora - died in the trail of destruction left by the plane that became a fireball as soon as it hit the buildings. Resident doctor Jay Prakash Chaudhary was reported missing as of Thursday evening. The doctor's wife who died was identified as Kajal Pradip Solanki.

There were more than 300 doctors present on the premises on Thursday, across the five-storey building that also contains the mess. Dr Ramkrishna, among the survivors, said, "I was having lunch in the mess when a friend called up to warn me about a plane flying dangerously low. I stepped out of the mess and there was a massive blast. There was a lot of heat and smoke. People were running around in panic. When the smoke subsided, I saw the wreckage spread around. We brought out bodies from the debris. They were doctors... they had aprons on," he said.

Earlier in the day, Junior Doctors' Association president Dhaval Gameti was upset that he was unable to join his friends for lunch at the mess. By afternoon, he thanked his lucky stars. "At 1.41pm, I got a call about smoke and assumed it was a small fire. I called civil hospital superintendent Rakesh Joshi for an ambulance. By the time we reached, Air India's four ambulances had already reached there, and we realised that the situation was much worse. We pulled out 21-22 students."

Intern Kushal Chauhan had just returned to his hostel after finishing lunch at the mess. MBBS student Manthan had also just finished his meal and was starting his two-wheeler when the plane came down. "I tried to flee as quickly as possible, but the fire caught the back of my friend who was riding pillion. He sustained burn injuries, but he is safe," he said.

"Had the plane come down a few minutes later, many more doctors would have become victims as most come to the mess for lunch at around 2pm once their OPD is over," said Chauhan.

Akash Patni (13), who managed a tea stall near the civil hospital doctors' facilities, died instantly. "I had gone home to bring tiffin for him. I heard a blast and rushed back, but there was nothing left - just pieces of him," his cousin Anil told TOI. Akash had started working at the tea stall after losing his father during Covid pandemic.