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The terrifying moment when Air India plane crashed into a canteen

Vikas Pandey, Antriksha Pathania and Zoya Mateen
BBC News, Ahmedabad
Getty Images Plates with food on them sit on a table covered in thick white dust with a pair of doctors' latex gloves lying either side - as if cast aside by a person the moment the plane struck the buildingGetty Images

It was a balmy Thursday afternoon at the residential hostel of the BJ Medical College and the canteen was teeming with students getting lunch.

The room buzzed with the sound of jokes, banter between friends, and the odd bit of academic discussion.

By 13:39 local time, there were at least 35 people in the cafeteria. Some had already collected their food and were lounging around, while others were in the queue waiting for their turn.

The students mixed with doctors and family . Then, everything changed.

The general hum of the canteen was pierced by the sound of approaching jet engines - and then the room exploded.

Hindustan Times via Getty Images People stand amid a chaotic scene of debris within the doctors' mess hall after the crash. It is clearly dark outside, meaning it is several hours since the incidentHindustan Times via Getty Images
Rescuers searched through the wreckage and debris in the mess hall on Thursday night

Less than a minute earlier, Flight AI171 had taken off from the runway at Ahmedabad's airport, just 1.5km (4,800ft) away.

The Air India 787 Dreamliner was bound for London, carrying 242 people.

But something had gone catastrophically wrong, and mere seconds after its wheels left the ground, the plane was in trouble. A mayday call was sent before it came crashing down into a busy residential area - on top of the doctors' hostel - sending a massive fireball into the sky and killing all but one person on board.

The BBC has spoken to eyewitnesses, including students who were in the hostel, along with friends of the trainee doctors who died and their teachers, to piece together what happened in those terrifying few seconds - and the aftermath that followed.

People on the ground nearby couldn't immediately work out what had happened.

A doctor, who works with the college's kidney sciences department, says he and his colleagues were in their building, about 500 metres away, when they heard a "deafening sound" outside.

"At first, we thought it was lightning. But then we wondered, could that be possible in 40C dry heat"Reuters A police officer stands in front of debris at the crash site after an Air India aircraft, bound for London's Gatwick Airport, crashed during take-off from an airport in Ahmedabad, India June 12, 2025. " class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/>Reuters

Asia
India
Aviation accidents and incidents
Air India flight AI171 plane crash