Death toll rises to 279 in India plane crash

At least 279 people died in the plane crash in the Indian city of Ahmedabad, making it the world’s deadliest air disaster since 2014, according to a new toll released Saturday.

A total of 279 bodies or body parts were taken to hospital in the city in northwest India, a police source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The previous toll tallied 265 dead, including passengers, crew members and victims killed on the ground when the plane crashed.

“I saw my son for the first time in two years, it was wonderful,” said Anil Patel, whose son and daughter-in-law had traveled from the U.K. to see him. “And now, there is nothing,” the man said, bursting into tears.

Air India Flight 171 crashed on Thursday, less than a minute after takeoff at 1:39 p.m. bound for London’s Gatwick airport, according to Indian civil aviation.

The aircraft issued a distress call almost at that moment after takeoff before crashing in a residential neighborhood of Ahmedabad located near the airport.

According to Indian civil aviation, the Boeing 787 was carrying 230 passengers: 169 Indians, 53 British, seven Portuguese and one Canadian, and 12 crew members.

One of the passengers who was seated at the front of the plane miraculously survived the crash.

“I still can’t believe he got out of there alive,” Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a 40-year-old Briton of Indian origin, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, told an Indian television channel.

The new casualty toll points to 38 people dying on the ground when the aircraft crashed outside Ahmedabad airport and exploded.

Source: AFP
--Agencies