Even a year after Ahmedabad witnessed one of the world’s deadliest aviation disasters, which claimed 260 lives, the 45-year-old supervisor of 108 Emergency Services says the memories of burnt human flesh and aviation fuel return whenever he passes through the area.
Deployed at Gate No. 8 of Ahmedabad Civil Hospital in Asarwa, barely 200 metres from the BJ Medical College hostel complex where the aircraft crashed, a deafening blast startled Sandhu, who then saw a thick veil of smoke rising from the scene.
He ran to the spot and helped rescue many injured, including “miracle” man Vishwas Kumar Ramesh, the lone survivor of the crash, only to learn about the magnitude of the tragedy later.
Sandhu worked until 4.30 am the next morning, supervising 35 ambulances pressed by 108 Emergency Services, transporting injured and bodies to hospitals. The work continued for the next week as rescuers pulled out charred victims and their body parts from the debris.
London-bound Air India flight AI-171 crashed into the hostel complex in Ahmedabad’s Meghaninagar area moments after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on June 12, killing 241 persons on board and 19 on the ground.
Here is the first-person account of the tragedy, narrated to PTI.—————————————————————————-
June 12, 2025, began like any other day on duty. I have been working as a supervisor with the 108 Emergency Services since 2015. I was posted in Dahod for the first two to three years before being transferred to Ahmedabad, where I have been working for the past eight to nine years.
In the afternoon, I was about to have lunch when, at exactly 1.31 pm, I heard a loud explosion and saw a thick cloud of smoke rising from the nearby hostel complex.
After instructing the ambulances to rush to the site, which was just 200 metres away, I started running towards it.
At that time, I had no idea that a plane had crashed into the hostel complex. I thought it was a bomb blast.
As I dashed to the site, I informed my superior, Jitendra Shahi, about the fire and the need for more ambulances. I also requested him to alert the fire department.
When I reached the spot, a watchman told me that an aircraft had crashed into the hostel building.
The scene was horrifying. A massive fire was raging, and bodies and injured people were lying both inside the B J Medical College Hostel complex and on the surrounding roads.
We reached the accident site in just three minutes after the crash with four ambulances. The airport fire brigade teams arrived about five minutes later.
Our priority was to save as many lives as possible.
The first injured person we transported to the hospital was a gardener who had suffered burns. Soon, a family of three came out of the hostel complex, and we took them to the civil hospital.
Then I noticed a man walking out of the gate and trying to re-enter the hostel complex twice. I stopped him and told him he could not re-enter because of the fire.
Since he was injured, I arranged for him to be taken to hospital in one of our ambulances. At the time, I assumed he was a hostel resident. Later that evening, when videos of him began circulating widely, we realised he was Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the sole surviving passenger of the crash.
Within a short time, the 108 Emergency Services had deployed 35 ambulances. Ambulances from other organisations also joined the effort. Fire brigade teams, police personnel, civic officials and other agencies had arrived, and a full-scale rescue operation was launched.
We began transporting injured and bodies to the hospital, as our priority was to save as many lives as possible. Around 70 injured people were taken to the civil hospital in the first few hours.
Our work continued till 4.30 am the next day as charred bodies were recovered from the debris and transported to the civil hospital.
For the following week, our duty was to transport bodies and body parts recovered by rescuers from the crash site.
The incident was shocking beyond words. None of us had ever witnessed anything like it.
‘Afsos yeh hai ki hum jyada jindgi nahi bacha paye’ (my regret is that we could not save more lives).
I also believe that if the aircraft had crashed into a residential society before reaching the hostel complex, or into the Civil Hospital campus beyond it, the death toll would have been even higher.
Even today, whenever we pass the crash site, we remember the smell of burnt human flesh and aviation fuel.
I will never forget the scenes I saw that day.