New Delhi: Satinder Singh Sandhu, an 108 Ambulance driver, was having his lunch when a big explosion rattled him. He looked out towards one of the hostels on the BJ Medical College premises. Thick black smoke was rising. He could make out that something extremely bad had happened. Right then, his phone rang. Without waiting, he swung into action and rushed towards the site from where the smoke was billowing. And then, he saw the heart-wrenching sight — an aircraft had crashed after bursting into flames and chaos reigned the place.
Air India’s Ahmedabad to London flight had nosedived from an altitude of 625 feet, and crashed into the hostel campus in Meghaninagar around 1:39 pm. Sandhu was at the site by 1.43pm. He also alerted the ambulance service manager Jitendra Shahi while on his way to the spot. An NDTV report said that in a call recording accessed by the news outlet he is heard alerting Shahi: “There has probably been a plane crash. Send the fire brigade.”
The first individual Sandhu saw getting out of the crash site was a security guard, who was badly burnt and unable to stand properly. Sandhu also spotted the lone crash survivor — Vishwas Kumar Ramesh — walking away from the wreckage. He tried to go back and save a relative, who was still trapped on board. However, the relative was among the 241 crash victims. Sandhu then rushed Ramesh to the hospital.
As many as five ambulances were at the site by 1.46 pm. Rescue operation started. Within the next 10 minutes, over 20 additional ambulances had reached the spot and were standing by, all prepared to respond. “We first shifted 15-20 people emerging from the hostel to the ambulance,” Shahi pointed out.
Shahi couldn’t belief that there was survivor in the horrifying plane crash. He said that they were prepared for such situations and had successfully carried out rescue operations in the past. “However, this time, there were so many casualties in one place. The recent security drills (held around the time Operation Sindoor was launched) prepared us for dealing with such a high number of casualties,” Shahi told NDTV.
The ill-fated Air India flight crashed on Thursday afternoon. All 241 people on board were killed. The plane burst into flames and crashed into the hostel building of the BJ Medical College. So far, the total toll is 274. The black box of the crashed flight has been recovered and the reason behind the crash is being ascertained.
