5 Medical Students, Doctor Among 242 Feared Dead As Air India Plane Crashes Into College Hostel
In a devastating aviation disaster, an Air India Boeing 787-8 aircraft en route to London crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, slamming into the BJ Medical College complex and bursting into flames. The catastrophe has claimed numerous lives, including five MBBS students, one postgraduate doctor, and the wife of a superspecialist from the college. Over 60 others — mostly medical students — have been injured, according to the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA).
“This is one of the darkest days for our medical community,” said Dr. Divyansh Singh, FAIMA’s national vice president. He confirmed that many bodies recovered so far were completely charred, and rescue operations are still underway. “We fear more students could be trapped under the rubble.”
The aircraft, carrying 242 people (including 230 passengers and 12 crew members), crashed around lunchtime, a peak time in the hostel when many students were present in the mess or resting. The impact site — the boys’ hostel of BJ Medical College — has been reduced to charred ruins, complicating rescue efforts.
Among the passengers, 169 were Indian nationals, along with 53 British, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian citizen. There has been no official confirmation of the total death toll as rescue teams continue to search for survivors and recover remains.
Authorities are now focused on retrieving the plane’s black box — including the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder — to determine the cause of the crash. The exact sequence of events leading to the tragedy is still unclear.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) expressed deep sorrow over the loss of lives and has mobilised a medical response team to provide emergency aid. “We stand in grief with the victims’ families,” the IMA said in a statement. “This tragedy underlines the critical importance of swift emergency response and coordinated relief efforts.”
The incident marks one of India’s most horrific air disasters in recent memory, striking a painful chord not only due to the number of lives lost but because of the bright futures among them — doctors and students who had dedicated their lives to saving others.
News Source : Information for this article was gathered from a variety of reliable news outlets.
