Shock and dismay gripped Ahmedabad as residents close to the site of the Air India Dreamliner crash described the gruesome ordeal in appalling detail. A blinding flash cut through the morning stillness, followed by dense, suffocating smoke and rubble plummeting from the air. “We heard a huge noise… and then bodies, fire, and metal everywhere,” one resident stammered, shaking.
Among the worst stories was from a woman whose son, who stayed in a nearby hostel, leaped from the second floor in terror and injured himself. “He believed the building was being attacked. The windows broke. He jumped in terror. Praise God, he is alive, though shaken,” she added. Most others around followed barefoot, shocked at the smoldering rubble that had engulfed the space.
The crash, which claimed the lives of 242 passengers and crew on a London-bound Air India 787-8 Dreamliner, has devastated the community and the country is in mourning. Emergency services are still recovering bodies and stabilizing the scene, while the families of the passengers wait in agonized silence for confirmation from authorities about their lost loved ones.
Authorities are working to reconstruct what happened, but for onlookers, the horror is etched for life. “I witnessed a person crying out for help as fire erupted behind them. I will never forget that,” replied a local store owner. With each passing moment, India laments another air disaster that transformed a peaceful neighborhood into a disaster area.
