AIR INDIA CRASH: Fresh Casualties Push Death Toll To 290

No fewer than 290 people have been confirmed dead following the crash of a London-bound Air India flight shortly after takeoff.

It was earlier reported on how the Boeing 787-8 flight crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad Airport en route to London’s Gatwick airport on Wednesday evening.

According to the Police, the death toll includes people on the plane and others on the ground, police said.

A total of 242 people were aboard the Air India flight when it crashed. 241 of those aboard the flight were killed in the crash, the airline said while only one passenger, a British national, survived.

Washington Post quoted senior police official Vishaka Dabral as saying at least 269 bodies had been brought to the city’s Civil Lines hospital.

“We are still verifying the number of dead, including those k!lled in the building where the plane crashed,” Vidhi Chaudhary, a top state police officer, told Reuters.

The only known surviving passenger aboard the plane was in seat 11A, next to an emergency exit, Chaudhary said, adding that there could be more survivors in hospital.

“It all happened so quickly,” Vishwashkumar Ramesh, the only survivor told the Hindustan Times from a general ward in the civil hospital in Asarwa, Ahmedabad, adding that he had received “impact injuries” to his chest, eyes and feet.

“When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me.

“Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital.”

He said that his brother, Ajay, was seated in a different row on the plane.

“He was travelling with me and I can’t find him anymore. Please help me find him,” he said.