Thaindian News

Faridabad/New Delhi, May 26 (IANS) An investigation was ordered Thursday into India’s first crash of an air ambulance which smashed into a crowded residential area of Faridabad near the Indian capital, killing all seven people on board and three women on the ground.

Officials hunted for the black box as they collected the remains of the single-engine, nine-seater, Swiss-made aircraft that had taken off from Patna and fell late Wednesday on a two-storey house in bad weather just before it was to land in New Delhi.

Hired from Delhi-based Air Chartered Services India Pvt Ltd by Apollo Hospital, the plane was ferrying 20-year-old Rahul Raj, who was in coma. His cousin Ratnesh, two doctors - Rajesh Jain and Syed Arshad Abbas - and nurse Cyril P. Joy were among those on the plane besides the crew.

Amid strong winds and poor visibility, the air ambulance’s engine apparently failed. Residents of New Faridabad’s Parvatiya colony said they saw the plane go dark and then plummet hundreds of meters within seconds, falling on the roof of the middle class house with a thunderous explosion.

The exploding aircraft led to multiple explosions. The fire raged for more than an hour. With fire engines taking time to reach the spot due to the congested streets, it was left to desperate neighbours to throw buckets of water into the leaping flames.

Shobha Ram Sherawat, who owned the unlucky house, had a narrow escape with his son but the disaster killed his 55-year-old wife Vedvati, daughter Sarita, 19, and daughter-in-law Rani, 20.

“All the bodies were badly burnt beyond recognition,” a police officer said hours later.

Four Nepali nationals who lived on the first floor room of the ill-fated house as tenants had a miraculous escape.

As Thursday broke, the house, number 1254/3, was left in blackened ruin, reeking of gasoline. Parts of the broken plane were embedded on its walls. Another part lay on its collapsed roof.

All that was left of the house were a scorched sofa and a collapsed bed. The walls and floors were covered in soot. A staircase to the upper floor was unusable, with its railings fallen off.

The wrecked dark blue body of the small plane was ensconced on the first floor. The tail was overhanging from the terrace of the adjoining house, which also suffered some damage.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation ordered an enquiry into the accident.

In far away Bettiah town in Bihar, Rajesh Kumar Gupta, father of the young son for whom the air ambulance was hired, was devastated.

“My son was my dream. His killing has ended my dream,” the father said brokenly. “I did not know that the last attempt to save my son would prove fatal and snatch him from us. This is unbelievable.

“I had booked the air ambulance to shift my critically ill son to a hospital in Delhi to save his life but fate willed otherwise,” Gupta told IANS.

Rahul suffered from liver cirrhosis and had slipped into coma when doctors referred him to a bigger hospital. The family decided on Apollo.

Apollo Hospital said: “The plane was in regular use … as an air ambulance. The entire Apollo family is devastated and in shock along with the families of the deceased.”

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced Rs.2 lakh each to the kin of the three Faridabad residents killed. A sum of Rs.20,000 would be given to the three injured locals who helped in rescue operations.

The civil aviation ministry received a preliminary report on the crash. It said it will soon set up an investigation panel.

“There were heavy winds and temperature variations. The plane was a single-engine aircraft. Just a little push by heavy winds on the tail end could have caused it to spiral down,” one official said.