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‘Barely able to breathe’: How doctors rushed to save lives after Ahmedabad Air India plane crash
At least 270 people were killed when an Air India flight crashed into a medical college campus in Ahmedabad shortly after take-off on Thursday.
Trainee doctors at a medical college in Ahmedabad sprang into action after an Air India plane crashed into their campus, helping pull the injured from the wreckage and treating them even as the building burned.
Some students jumped from windows to escape, while others, once outside, returned to help those trapped or hurt.
“There was fire and many were injured,” said Navin Chaudhary, who had just started his lunch when he heard a loud bang. “I felt that as a doctor I could save someone’s life,” he said. “I was safe. So I thought, whatever I can do, I should,” he added.
From the ground, he saw the tail cone of the Air India aircraft hanging from the hostel building. Along with other students, he helped remove the injured from the fire-struck area.
At least 270 people were killed when an Air India flight crashed into a medical college campus in Ahmedabad shortly after take-off on Thursday.
Of the 242 passengers on board, only one survived. Another 29 people on the ground, including five medical students in the hostel, also lost their lives.
The toll could have been even higher, many believe, if trainee doctors and students had not rushed out of the burning hostel to help rescue and treat their injured colleagues.
Akshay Zala, a senior medical student, said the crash felt “like an earthquake.”
“I could hardly see anything as thick plumes of smoke and dust engulfed everything. I was barely able to breathe,” he said.
He managed to escape through the haze, treating a wound on his left leg before joining others at the medical college’s trauma centre to help care for the injured.
Debris cleared, officials begin probe at crash site
On Monday, excavators and workers were at the crash site clearing debris as officials examined the building for clues that could help determine the cause of the tragedy.
Less than a kilometre away, trainee doctors who had survived one of India’s worst aviation disasters continued the painstaking work of identifying victims through DNA testing.
Minakshi Parikh, the college dean, said many of the doctors who pulled their colleagues from the debris returned to their duties the same day to help save more lives. “They did that and that spirit has continued till this moment,” Parikh said.
Images from the hostel’s dining area taken soon after the crash showed aircraft parts and scattered luggage on the floor. Plates still filled with food were seen on the few dusty tables left intact.
“So that is human nature, isn’t it? When our own people are injured, our first response is to help them,” Parikh said, adding, “So 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.”
“They might not even have survived because the rescue teams take time coming," she added.
With AP inputs
