Ahmedabad Plane Crash: Death Toll Might Have Been Higher If Trainee Doctors Were Not Nearby

Last Updated:June 16, 2025, 22:16 IST

Navin rushed to the hospital’s intensive care unit, where the injured, most of whom had burns, were wheeled in on stretchers.

Investigators are examining multiple sources of data and footage to determine what caused the crash. (PTI Image)

The devastating Air India flight AI171 crash in Ahmedabad last week, which claimed over 270 lives, has thrown up various untold and heartbreaking stories.

Navin Chaudhary, a trainee doctor at BJ Medical College had just sat down to eat his meal when a loud bang startled him. He turned back to see a massive fire taking over the dining area where he and other trainee doctors had assembled for lunch.

Seeing the blaze approaching him, he rushed toward a window and jumped to escape.

From the ground, looking upwards, the sight of the Air India Dreamliner’s tail cone hanging from the burning and shattered college canteen building propelled Chaudhary and fellow medical students into action.

He said he felt lucky to survive but realised that he had a task at hand to save the injured. “There was fire and many were injured," he said as quoted by news agency AP.

Navin rushed to the hospital’s intensive care unit, where the injured, most of whom had burns, were wheeled in on stretchers.

“I felt that as a doctor I could save someone’s life. I was safe. So I thought, whatever I can do, I should," he said.

241 out of 242 passengers and crew members on board the Boeing 787-8 (AI 171) and another 29 persons, including five MBBS students, on the ground were killed when the London-bound aircraft crashed, moments after it took off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.

Many believed that the death toll would have been higher if it had not been for the intervention of the trainee doctors and students who emerged from the smouldering hostel and rushed to save their 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.

Zala rushed to safety, running through dust and smoke. He cleaned and bandaged a wound on his left leg then joined others at the medical college’s trauma center to treat the injured.

College dean Minakshi Parikh said that many of the doctors who pulled their colleagues out of the debris, later that day went back to their duties to save as many lives as they could. “They did that and that spirit has continued till this moment," Parikh said.

“So that is human nature, isn’t it? When our own people are injured, our first response is to help them," Parikh said. “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.

Ahmedabad Plane Crash

India witnessed one of its worst aviation tragedies on Thursday after a London-bound Air India plane, carrying 242 passengers and crew, including former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, crashed into a medical college complex shortly after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport.

One person survived the tragedy. The lone survivor was identified as Indian-origin British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh who was returning to the UK with his brother Ajay Kumar Rakesh, 45, who was in a different row inside the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner.

The aircraft had 232 passengers and 10 crew members, including 169 Indians, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese and a Canadian, on board.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in a statement said the aircraft piloted by captain Sumeet Sabharwal with 8,200 hours of experience and first officer Clive Kundar with 1,100 hours of experience made a mayday call just before the crash.

(With inputs from agencies)

Shobhit Gupta

Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben...Read More

Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben...

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