Air India crash: Teen eyewitness returns to native village, calls accident 'terrifying'

A teenager who accidentally filmed the crash of the Air India AI 171 flight on his mobile phone just a few days ago, which killed 270, returned on Sunday to his native village in Gujarat's Aravalli district.

17-year-old Aryan Asari, who claimed to have been intrigued by the sight of a flight flying close to the ground, explained that he had run up to the terrace of his father's rented house in the Meghaninagar area—which is near the Ahmedabad airport—to get a better look.

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"When the plane started descending, I thought it was going to land on the other side of the airport. Then it crashed and burst into flames right in front of my eyes. It was terrifying," he told reporters, as per a PTI report.

The ill-fated flight from Ahmedabad to London had crashed into a medical college campus, causing the deaths of 241 passengers and crew members on board, as well as 29 people in the vicinity of the crash site.

The teenager, who had arrived in the area “on June 12 to purchase textbooks”, has yet to overcome the psychological trauma caused by the devastating crash he witnessed, in his first visit to the city.

Aryan's father, a retired member of the Indian Army, had recently taken up a job as a security guard with the Ahmedabad Metro and had been staying in a two-storey rented flat, located between the airport and the crash site in Meghaninagar.

The PTI report added that house owner Kailashba confirmed Aryan's story, stating that “within hours of his arrival, he ended up witnessing such a horrific event”.

“The video he captured was initially sent to his father and later went viral," the house owner adding that Aryan would be leaving for his native place to resume his studies. This follows his statements given to the Ahmedabad Crime Branch on Saturday, confirming his role as an eyewitness, police stated.

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In the meantime, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued a directive ordering enhanced safety checks on the Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 aircraft within Air India's fleet. The airline declared in a statement on Saturday that it had completed inspections of 9 out of its 33 aircraft. However, just a day later, an Air India Express flight from Kolkata to Uttar Pradesh's Hindon was delayed due to a technical “snag”.

The airline has claimed that it plans to complete checks on the remaining 24 Boeing aircraft in its fleet by the DGCA-specified timeframe.

India