A tale of 2 Gujarat plane crashes, a common ‘emergency worker’, and haunting memories from BJ Medical College

AHMEDABAD: Dr Hasmukh Patel, an MLA for the Amraiwadi constituency in Ahmedabad, has a history of providing service during two tragic plane crashes in the city. Back in 1988, while still a second-year MBBS student at B J Medical College, Patel was thrust into the aftermath of the Indian Airlines Flight 113 disaster. The flight, en route from Mumbai, tragically crashed in Kotarpur, claiming the lives of 133 passengers and crew members. Patel said, "I was a second-year MBBS student at BJ Medical College at that time. I remember we rushed to the postmortem room since they were grappling with staff shortage. Dr Deshmukh was the head of the forensic department and we served in whatever capacity we could. There was very little space in the postmortem room, and the casualties were very high." "On June 12, when we got the news of the plane crash, I rushed to Civil Hospital. Around seven bodies arrived when I arrived. I helped the staff put tags on the body bags. Both the air tragedies were heart-wrenching," he said.