Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday morning arrived in Ahmedabad to take stock of the situation hours after Air India's London-bound flight (AI171) crashed in Meghani Nagar on Thursday afternoon. PM Modi visited the crash site.
The Prime Minister was accompanied by Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu and Union Minister CR Paatil.
The Prime Minister later met victims of the crash, who are undergoing treatment at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital.
Around 250 people reportedly died in the tragic incident.
The Air India flight AI 171 bound for London's Gatwick had crashed shortly after it took off from the Ahmedabad International Airport on June 12. In the crash, 241 people on board the aircraft were killed. The plane crashed into a medical college hostel in Meghani Nagar.
The AI flight carried 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese nationals, and one Canadian national. Miraculously, one person survived the deadly crash. As per the airline, the survivor was a British national of Indian origin. Some reports even mentioned that at least five medical students also died after the the plane hit the hostel.
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.
