Air India Boeing 787-8 Crash: Pilot's Mayday Call Before Ahmedabad Tragedy. A London-bound Air India flight crashed in Ahmedabad, India, after the pilot issued a mayday call, reporting loss of thrust and power shortly after takeoff. The devastating accident resulted in the death of 241 passengers and at least 24 people on the ground, with only one survivor
“Mayday … no thrust, losing power, unable to lift,” Sumeet Sabharwal told traffic control less than a minute into the flight, per reports.
The plane slammed into a medical building in Ahmedabad, killing all but one of its 242 passengers. At least 24 people died on the ground, according to Reuters.
Sabharwal, 60, was just a few months away from retirement, his neighbors told the Indian Express. He had planned to take care of his 90-year-old father.
He had a sister in Delhi whose sons are also commercial pilots, according to the outlet.
The lone survivor aboard, 38-year-old Vishwashkumar Ramesh, who lives in Leicester, England, said he suffered “impact injuries” to his chest, eyes and feet.
“When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran,” he told Hindustan Times. “There were pieces of the plane all around me. Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital.”
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