A month after the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed into the hostel premises of BJ Medical College, Ahmedabad, on June 12, as families of the bereaved try to pick up the pieces of their lives, The Voices visits the site of the crash and talks to the eyewitnesses who live and work near the Medical College.
The site of the crash has largely been cordoned off for the general public. Ahmedabad police have installed barriers near the front gate, not allowing easy access to the area. People around talk of the tragedy, many reliving the moment an aircraft takes off or lands nearby.

Till June 12, the familiar humming of aircraft flying overhead was a normal and mundane part of the lives of people living around. On June 12, moments before the aircraft took off, it came down crashing. The aircraft crashed into a hostel of the medical college, and the explosion was so huge that people living in nearby houses and in the hostel thought that a bomb had exploded. There were broken windows, dislodged ceiling fans and the walls on the perimeters of the compound got damaged. While emergency services made their way to the scene of the crash, people rushed out in panic.
A student of the BJ Medical College, requesting anonymity, told The Voices that many of the students are yet to come to terms with the huge loss they have suffered in the deaths of their classmates. He added that for the past several years, the residents living next to the airport have learnt to live with the roar of aeroplanes. Take-offs and landings were mundane until the sky played a trick on them.

On June 12, at 1:30 pm, Dinesh Sharma, who works as a pujari in a temple opposite the crash site in Meghani Nagar, suddenly heard a loud explosion. He ran there and, to his horror, saw black fog and fire emanating from the building. Talking to The Voices, he recounts seeing someone’s leg lying separated from the body in the explosion. He then ran near the spot and tried to see if he could save someone. “But the flames were so intense that I could not do anything. Within minutes, people from nearby areas started arriving followed by police, fire brigade and the ambulances,” he said.
Dinesh Sharma added that every day he prays to the Almighty, seeking solace for the souls of the victims and their families. Every plane flying in the vicinity reminds him of the tragedy.

Vijay Sengahal, who works as a sanitary inspector in a civil hospital, reminisced about being too stunned to say anything when he saw the crash. Talking to The Voices, he said, “I saw an Air India plane with its landing gear was coming towards the hostel and crashed with a very high explosion. Withing seconds the entire area was covered with black fog,” he said. Vijay added that those who had not seen the aeroplane thought either there was an attack on the city or a gas cylinder had exploded.
Pujari Dinesh shuddered, remembering the son of a tea stall vendor, just a few yards from the temple, who got charred in the accident. He also vividly remembers the crying people who came looking for their loved ones in the ashes. The site today has burnt personal belongings, ripped seats, bent metals, and the smell of burnt fuel still lingers in the area.
Praying for the solace of departed souls, B.J. Medical College held a memorial service on June 16, remembering the young lives lost. 13 young and productive lives from the medical college were lost. The Air India crash DNA profiling was completed on June 30, and the final death toll stands at 260.

Rushikesh Patel, Minister for Health and Family Welfare and Medical Education, Gujarat, visited the medical college and paid tributes to deceased students by planting a sapling with their names.

All photos by the author.
Copy Editor: Vikash Kumar Upadhyay