Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

Relatives mourn the death of Akash Patni, a 14-year-old boy who was sleeping on the ground when Air India flight 171 crashed in a residential area, at the hospital mortuary in Ahmedabad on June 13, 2025. At least 265 people on board and on the ground were killed when the London-bound Air India 787-8 Dreamliner smashed into residential area soon after takeoff on June 12 -- but one passenger miraculously survived the giant fireball. Photo by Punit Paranjpe/AFP

Article (news)

India

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1749800783076Screen Shot 2025-06-13 at 3.45.59 PM.png" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">At least 265 people on board and on the ground were killed when the London-bound Air India 787-8 Dreamliner smashed into residential area soon after takeoff on June 12 -- but one passenger miraculously survived the giant fireball. <em>Photo by Punit Paranjpe/AFP</em></span></span></span></div><p>AHMEDABAD, India — Volunteers who rushed to help after a passenger jet crashed into a residential neighborhood of India&#x27;s Ahmedabad city described Friday the intense fireball they faced—and the challenge ahead to identify the bodies of at least 265 victims.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/6/13/-unimaginable-families-mourn-dead-in-air-india-crash-1049">&#x27;Unimaginable&#x27;: families mourn dead in Air India crash</a></div><p>Bharat Solanki, 51, was working at a fuel station when the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner—carrying 242 passengers and crew—took off from nearby Ahmedabad airport around lunchtime on Thursday.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/6/12/miracle-one-passenger-reportedly-survived-india-plane-crash-0610">Miracle: One passenger reportedly survived India plane crash</a></div><p>Less than a minute later it ploughed into a residential area, bursting into searing flames with what residents described as an ear-splitting blast.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aAUR1-xVoYs?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><p>All but one aboard the plane was killed, and at least 24 others died on the ground.</p><p>Solanki and a couple of friends rushed to the site.</p><p>&quot;We saw bodies everywhere -- they were in pieces, fully burnt,&quot; he said, recalling the horror of the scene.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/6/12/india-plane-crash-what-we-know-0617">India plane crash: What we know</a></div><p>&quot;We took out dead bodies&quot;, he said, adding that he also helped bring out those injured from the medical hostel and nearby buildings that the plane smashed into.</p><p>&quot;Everywhere just bodies, parts, body parts. The bodies were totally burnt. It was like coal.&quot;</p><div><strong>&#x27;DIDN&#x27;T GET A CHANCE&#x27; </strong></div><p>Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited the crash site on Friday morning, called it a &quot;scene of devastation.&quot;</p><p>He was seen peering up at a fire-blackened multi-storey building with the plane&#x27;s wheels and tail embedded in a wall.</p><p>Authorities have set up DNA testing for relatives of passengers and those killed on the ground to identify the scorched bodies and body parts.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/6/12/flames-smoke-in-aftermath-of-crashed-india-passenger-jet-2045">Flames, smoke in aftermath of crashed India passenger jet</a></div><p>It may be weeks before a final death toll is confirmed.</p><p>Home Minister Amit Shah, speaking after visiting the crash site on Thursday, said the plane was carrying 125,000 liters (27,500 gallons) of fuel.</p><p>The &quot;temperature was so high that one didn&#x27;t get a chance&quot;, he said.</p><p>Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese, and a Canadian on board the flight bound for London&#x27;s Gatwick airport, as well as 12 crew members.</p><p>Sona Prakash, who was close to the residential blocks of the medical accommodation, described how the &quot;hostel was destroyed&quot;, adding that &quot;so many doctors were injured, so many died&quot;.</p><p>Another witness, 35-year-old laborer Patani, who uses only one name, said those around him thought a bomb had gone off before they realized it was a plane crash.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/6/12/all-242-passengers-died-in-india-plane-crash-police-say-2330">All 242 passengers died in India plane crash, police say</a></div><p>&quot;There was black smoke everywhere, plumes of smoke&quot;, added Vinod Bhai, another laborer.</p><p>&quot;The sky was only black, that&#x27;s how much smoke was there.&quot;</p><p>Forensic teams are searching for the black box flight recorders that will detail the last moments of the flight for crash investigators.</p><div><strong>—By Aishwarya Kumar, Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tKXBUXEnlDY?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Authorities have set up DNA testing for relatives of passengers and those killed on the ground to identify the scorched bodies and body parts.</p>

Authorities have set up DNA testing for relatives of passengers and those killed on the ground to identify the scorched bodies and body parts.

'We saw bodies everywhere': Volunteer rescuers describe horror at India plane crash site

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'We saw bodies everywhere': Volunteer rescuers describe horror at India plane crash site

Agence France-Presse

Published Jun 13, 2025 03:57 PM PHT

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