Bengaluru: At least two students at BJ Medical College and Civil Hospital, where the Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed, have been confirmed dead. Anagha AR, a senior resident at the hospital who was near the crash site, confirmed this to ThePrint. It was around noon, and many students were eating lunch when the plane crashed, according to Anagha.
It’s still unknown if there are more casualties as rescue operations continue. Emergency response teams, including doctors from various locations, are on-site, and ambulances are rushing in with injured students.
At the time of the crash, Anagha was in a building a few blocks away.
“I could see thick black smoke billowing from the crash site,” she said. The crash impacted two of the four undergraduate hostels, leaving students in shock.
Although Anagha wanted to go to the site, she couldn’t as she had a workshop to attend. She later visited the casualty ward.
“It was very crowded, so I came back,” she added. Anagha asked whether she was needed at the casualty ward but was told her presence was not urgently required. Orthopaedic surgeons and other specialists were busy attending to severely injured students.
Authorities have set up several official information desks at the Kasoti Hall in the hospital for family members of the undergraduate students to make enquiries. Anagha and her friends are concerned about their juniors. “We are trying to call the UG students individually,” she said.
The cause of the crash is still unknown. However, it has been reported that the pilot issued a Mayday call to the Air Traffic Control (ATC) in Ahmedabad minutes after the takeoff, to which the DGCA said it responded with calls but received no further communication from the flight.
As Anagha spoke to ThePrint, her friends were trying to reach out to their juniors. She ended the call to contact one of them.
(Edited by Prashant)