Air India had renewed its mega $20 billion insurance policy with multinational re/insurer AIG as the lead reinsurer since Apr 1. The primary insurers for the Air India policy are- Tata Aig General Insurance( lead insurer), ICICI Lombard General Insurance, New India Assurance and other PSU general insurers. Almost 95 per cent of the Air India policy has been reinsured with London based reinsurers. GIC Re also has a share in the policy including 4 per cent obligatory. Reinsurers, primary insurers and brokers have already started working out the exact number of claims as well as the amount for the losses

Ahmedabad/ New Delhi/Mumbai: At least 265 people were killed on Thursday when a London-bound Air India plane carrying 242 passengers and crew crashed into a medical college complex here and burst into a ball of fire less than a minute after takeoff, an official said.

The dead in the country’s worst air disaster in recent times included several people on the ground.

The reasons of the crash are not known yet.

Air India has confirmed that 241 people on board its London-bound flight were killed when the aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff from the Ahmedabad airport on Thursday.

The plane crashed on top of the dining area of state-run B.J. Medical College hostel, killing many medical students as well.

While one passenger identified as Vishwash Kumar Ramesh survived the crash near the airport involving the Boeing 787 Dreamliner(AI 171), BJP leader C R Paatil said former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani was among the dead.

“265 bodies have reached the city civil hospital as per the message we received,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Kanan Desai told reporters late in the night several hours after the twin-engine wide-body aircraft crashed in the city civil hospital and BJ Medical College outside the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport perimeter. Several bodies were reported to be charred beyond recognition.

Four MBBS students and a doctor’s wife were among those killed, a senior official said. Several students were impacted after parts of the plane smashed into a dining hall at lunch time in the multi-storey hostel building.

According to Air India, of the 230 passengers, 169 were Indians, 53 British, seven Portuguese and one Canadian. The other 12 people on board were two pilots and 10 crew members.

Ramesh, who was seated in 11A, largely remained unscathed after the miraculous escape. He was seen in TV footage walking around after the crash. Ramesh was admitted to the trauma ward of the Ahmedabad civil hospital, Dr Shriq M told PTI. The lucky passenger was travelling to London with his brother.

Union minister Amit Shah told reporters that the temperature in the ill-fated plane was so high due to burning fuel that there was no chance to save anyone.

“There was 1.25 lakh litres of fuel inside the plane and it caught heat so it was impossible to save anyone,” Shah said.

“The number of those killed will be officially released by the authorities after DNA test and identification of the victims.”

As rescuers struggled to find survivors in the charred wreckage and pull out the injured, many of them with grievous burns, officials tried to assess the human magnitude of the disaster.

The pilot of the plane issued a ‘Mayday’ distress call, denoting a full emergency, soon after takeoff at 1.39 pm, the Air Traffic Control at Ahmedabad said.

The search was also on for the aircraft’s black box — the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder — for clues to understand what happened in the last crucial moments of the doomed flight to London’s Gatwick airport.

The 11-year-old aircraft could be seen from miles away, losing altitude rapidly and combusting in a fiery blaze that sent plumes of thick black smoke spiralling up in the air.

Noting that the aircraft with a full fuel load for a long trip climbed just about 600-800 feet before plummeting to the ground almost immediately, Aviation experts said that going by the available visuals lack of thrust in both engines and a bird hit could be among the probable causes. TV footage showed the aircraft making a slow descent shortly after taking off, with its landing gear still extended.

“The aircraft departed from Ahmedabad at 1339 IST from Runway 23. It gave a MAYDAY Call to ATC, but thereafter no response was given by the aircraft to the calls made by ATC,” according to a statement from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

Eyewitnesses in Ahmedabad said the blaze was so intense that it led to several multi-storey buildings being burnt, trees singed and cars damaged. One image showed the snout of the plane crashing through the top floor of a building that appeared to be a dining area of the hostel of nurses and doctors.

Elsewhere too, there were scenes of complete devastation with mangled metal of the wreckage, snarls of tangled wire and smoke rising from burning embers.

This marks the first-ever fatal crash involving a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a long-haul aircraft known globally for its fuel efficiency, advanced technology, and comfortable passenger experience.

It was the first crash for the Dreamliner, which began flying commercially in 2011, according to the Aviation Safety Network database. The plane that crashed on Thursday flew for the first time in 2013 and was delivered to Air India in January 2014, Flightradar24 said.

The re/insurers, which have provided the cover to Air India, have already swung into action to assess the loss situation and amount of claims that need to be paid.

Air India had renewed its mega $20 billion insurance policy with multinational AIG as the lead reinsurer since Apr 1. The primary insurers for the Air India policy are- Tata Aig General Insurance(lead insurer with 45 per cent share), ICICI Lombard General Insurance(7 per cent), New India Assurance(32 per cent), Oriental Insurance Company (14 per cent) and other PSU general insurers.

The airline had paid a premium of $30 million, same as last year, for insuring over 300 aircraft.

Almost 95 per cent of the Air India policy has been reinsured with a clutch of reinsurers led by AIG, Axa and Allianz. GIC Re also has a share in the policy including 4 per cent obligatory.

The reinsurers will have to pay for 95 per cent of the claims, which will be accrued out of damaged aircraft, dead and injured passengers and third party liabilities.

As per the Montreal Convention treaty, the Air India will have to pay a compensation of around Rs 1.30 crore each to the kin of victims of the plane crash.

Boeing said it was aware of initial reports and was working to gather more information. Boeing shares fell 6.8 per cent to $199.13 in pre-market trade.

“The building on which it has crashed is a doctors’ hostel… we have cleared almost 70 per cent to 80 per cent of the area and will clear the rest soon,” a senior police officer told reporters.

N. Chandrasekaran, chairman, Air India said, Tata Group will provide Rs 1 crore to the families of each person who has lost their life in this tragedy, he added.

In the message posted by Tata Group on X, he also said the group will cover the medical expenses of those injured and ensure that they receive all necessary care and support.

“Additionally, we will provide support in the building up of the BJ Medical’s hostel.

The last fatal plane crash in India was in 2020 and involved Air India Express, the airline’s low-cost arm.

The airline’s Boeing-737 overshot a “table-top” runway at Kozhikode International Airport in southern India. The plane skidded off the runway, plunging into a valley and crashing nose-first into the ground.

New India Assurance, which was the leader in the Air India insurance policy in 2020, had paid Rs 378.83 crore as a hull claim to the airline, the highest ever pay-out in the Indian aviation insurance market arising out of the crash.

Based on the number of people on board, this is the worst commercial airline crash since Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in 2014, which was shot down over Ukraine, killing 298 people, according to Aviation Safety Network, which tracks fatal crashes. The last crash of this magnitude for Air India was Flight 182 in 1985. That Boeing 747 aircraft was destroyed by a bomb over the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 329 people on board.

Boeing has been involved in several accidents in recent years, including two fatal crashes with Lion Air Flight 610 on October 29, 2018, and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on March 10, 2019.

Early last year, a nearly-new 737 Max aircraft lost a door panel during flight. While there were no fatalities, the accident plunged the company into a deep crisis.