More than 250 people were killed on Thursday afternoon as an Air India plane crashed into a residential building minutes after taking off from Ahmedabad airport. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner had been heading to London with 242 passengers when it struck the medical college hostel and burst into flames. Only one passenger has survived the accident. The lengthy list of casualties also included several students living in the building while several others were seriously injured.
According to an update shared by Humans of Medicare founder Siddhant Kashyap, “around 50 medical students and doctors” had succumbed to their injuries by Thursday night.
“Today, the Air India crash near Ahmedabad did not just take down a plane—it tore through the very heart of BJMC Ahmedabad. The aircraft crashed into the Doctors’ Hostel adjacent to the college campus. In that building were final-year medical students, interns, and postgraduates—young lives, many of whom were using the library and mess at the time,” he wrote on LinkedIn.
The death toll remains unverified with several news agencies putting the total list of medicos who were injured or killed in the crash at around 70 people. Details re-shared on social media by the FAIMA Doctors Association indicated around 50 to 60 MBBS students were hospitalised with two or three in a critical condition. Around four to five students remained missing alongside a few relatives of resident doctors. The wife of one super-specialist doctor was also found dead after the crash.
“These were future doctors of this country—some who would’ve become brilliant surgeons, some compassionate physicians, all of whom dreamt of healing others. As a medical community, this is a wound we will carry for years. We stand with the families, the BJMC community, and every single healthcare worker shaken by this loss. If you know someone from BJMC, please check in on them. We mourn together. We remember together. We demand accountability together,” Kashyap urged.
The Air India plane had crashed into the premises of BJ Medical College on the outskirts of Ahmedabad airport around 1:40 pm on Thursday. Visuals shared online showed the tail of the aircraft protruding from the roof of the building while parts of it lay scattered on the ground. Reports suggest that the plane had the plane had struck the hostel canteen while the residents were having lunch. The building — which housed around 200 students from the BJ Medical College in Ahmedabad — also suffered severe structural damage with some rooms reduced to rubble. Officials had also confirmed damage to the MBBS students’ hostel and the residential block of super-specialty doctors.
(With inputs from agencies)