Young medical students are sharing gut-wrenching stories about digging their trapped colleagues out from the wreckage of the Air India crash.
Moments after the London-bound Flight AI-171 crashed into a medical college campus in Gujarat, India, students were seen leaping from windows, dodging flames, and choking through the clouds of smoke.
Highlights
- Trainee doctors rushed to save trapped colleagues from the Air India crash wreckage last week.
- The impact ended the lives of 241 people on board and at least 29 on the ground.
- Four medical students from the BJ Medical College and Civil Hospital were among the victims.
- One medical student said he treated his own wound after escaping and then rushed to help other injured survivors.
But even after escaping danger, some of them ran straight back towards the wreckage to save as many lives as they could.
Trainee doctors at BJ Medical College risked their lives to save trapped colleagues from the Air India crash wreckage
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The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner took off from the western Indian city of Ahmedabad on Thursday, June 12.
In less than a minute, the aircraft slammed into a doctors’ accommodation building at the BJ Medical College and Civil Hospital.
The impact ended the lives of 241 people on board and at least 29 on the ground.
Image credits: Raju Shinde/Hindustan Times
Video clips from the scene captured medical college students escaping through windows and leaping from a building shortly after the plane exploded.
Flames had engulfed the lower floors of the accommodation building, leaving a number of people injured.
The victim count "of BJ Medical College students stands at 4," said Ahmedabad Civil Hospital Superintendent Rakesh Joshi in a June 17 update.
Despite escaping, many young doctors ran back to pull out injured classmates before rescue teams arrived
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College dean Minakshi Parikh said many doctors returned to the wreckage and helped save lives while rescue teams were still on their way.
She believes the number of student fatalities could have been higher if not for the doctors who rushed to help.
Students were captured leaping from windows and dodging flames in the harrowing moments
“The doctors who managed to escape ... the first thing that they did was they went back in and dug out their colleagues who were trapped inside,” she said.
“They might not even have survived because the rescue teams take time coming,” she continued.
Image credits: Raju Shinde/Hindustan Times
The trainee doctors at the medical college spoke about how they helped pull out injured victims from the wreckage.
Akshay Zala, a senior medical student, said it felt “like an earthquake” when the plane slammed into the doctors’ accommodation building.
Senior medical student Akshay Zala treated his own wound before tending to others
Image credits: Raju Shinde/Hindustan Times
“I could hardly see anything as thick plumes of smoke and dust engulfed everything,” he recalled. “I was barely able to breathe.”
Akshay managed to escape danger with a wound on his left leg.
He treated his own injury before joining others at the college’s trauma centre to provide medical attention to the injured.
Another trainee doctor, Navin Chaudhary, recalled the day of the plane crash and said he was having lunch when he heard a loud bang.
“There was fire and many were injured,” he said.
“I felt that as a doctor I could save someone’s life,” he added. “I was safe. So I thought, whatever I can do, I should.”
“I felt that as a doctor I could save someone’s life,” said one trainee doctor
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Even after pulling their colleagues out of the debris, several doctors joined their work shift to continue saving lives.
“They did that and that spirit has continued till this moment,” the college dean said.
“So that is human nature, isn’t it? When our own people are injured, our first response is to help them,” she added.
As tales of unimaginable grief come out of the tragic incident, only one survivor walked away from the crash alive.
“Everything happened in seconds. I realized we were going down,” said the lone survivor.
Only one passenger survived the crash that ended the lives of 241 people on board and at least 29 on the ground
Image credits: CBS News
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh was in seat number 11A and could not believe that he managed to escape.
He said it was clear from the flickering lights and sounds that something was wrong with the plane immediately after takeoff.
After the collision, he opened his eyes to see destruction and motionless bodies all around him.
“My seat was broken, the door was broken. I saw an opening, so I just got out,” he explained.
His brother Ajay, who was seated across the aisle from him in 11J, did not survive.
Four medical students lost their lives after the plane slammed into the medical college campus building
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The student victims from the BJ Medical College who lost their lives in the crash were identified as Jayprakash Chaudhary, Manav Bhadu, Aryan Rajput, and Rakesh Dihora.
The four medical students were having lunch inside the campus building when they were fatally injured.
Following the crash, resident doctors went back to the affected buildings to retrieve their belongings and lost many of their prized possessions.
“I lost everything—documents, certificates, clothes, and household items. I could only recover a few utensils. My hands are still black from the dust and ash,” one doctor told local media.
“All my certificates and documents are lost. I was at the hospital during the crash, which is why I survived,” another doctor said.
Unimaginable stories of grief are still emerging from the horrifying aviation disaster
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