AHMEDABAD, India, June 12 (Reuters) – More than 290 people were killed when an Air India plane bound for London with 242 people on board crashed minutes after taking off from the western city of Ahmedabad on Thursday, authorities said, in the world’s worst aviation disaster in a decade.
The dead included people on the ground as the aircraft, headed for Gatwick Airport, south of the British capital, crashed into a medical college hostel during lunch hour.
At least one passenger is known to have survived, police said, and the man told Indian media how he had heard a loud noise shortly after take-off.
“Approximately 294 have died. This includes some students, as the plane crashed on the building where they were staying,” Vidhi Chaudhary, a top state police officer, told Reuters.
She said police found one survivor who was in seat 11A, next to an emergency exit, adding that there could be more survivors in the hospital.
“Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed,” 40-year-old Ramesh Viswashkumar told the Hindustan Times, which showed a boarding pass for seat 11A in that name online.
“It all happened so quickly,” he told the paper from his hospital bed.
