What began as a regular afternoon turned into a nightmare of fire, smoke, and chaos for 30-year-old Aishwarya Toshniwal, a second-year oncopathology student at Gujarat Cancer Research Institute. When Air India Flight AI171, a London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, nosedived and crashed into the civil hospital campus near BJ Medical College in Ahmedabad’s Meghaninagar, it brought devastation within mere metres of her fifth-floor hostel room.
The aircraft, carrying 242 passengers and crew, erupted into a fiery explosion shortly after takeoff. All onboard, except one critically injured survivor, perished in the crash. Tragically, 24 more people on the ground were also killed. Among the debris and horror, Aishwarya emerged alive, wounded, breathless, but determined.
“It will stay with me for the rest of my life,” Aishwarya told The Times of India, her voice trembling as she recounted her escape. “I’ve never been so close to death. For a moment, I thought it was all over. But I knew the building well, and that helped me stay focused. I didn’t panic. Even though I was breathless and choking, I somehow found my way out.”
As the explosion rocked the structure, power went out and thick black smoke flooded the corridors. Wrapped in a blanket and unable to see, she navigated through the dark, shaking building. Shards of debris fell around her as she groped her way down the staircase. She suffered burns during her escape but managed to reach safety.
Moments later, still dazed and in pain, she managed to call her father, Amol Toshniwal, who runs a cloth shop in Akola’s Durga Chowk. Amol, overwhelmed by disbelief and emotion, shut his shop and rushed home, his mind racing as news of the crash dominated television screens.
“It was nothing but God’s grace,” said Amol, speaking with The Times of India. “She had just returned to Ahmedabad a day after celebrating her grandfather’s birthday with us. Who could imagine something like this would happen the very next day?”
Back in Akola, the Toshniwal household, including Aishwarya’s mother, grandparents, and extended family, broke down when they heard her voice. Their relief was punctuated by heartbreak for the many families who weren’t as fortunate.
The sheer proximity of the crash to Aishwarya’s hostel came into sharper focus when investigators from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) recovered the Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) or Black Box, from the rooftop of her building. Normally housed in the tail of an aircraft, the DFDR is vital to reconstructing the plane’s final moments and understanding the cause of the crash.
Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu confirmed that the Black Box was retrieved within 28 hours of the tragedy. Officials are still searching for the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), which may hold crucial data from the pilots’ last minutes.
While the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered enhanced safety checks for all Boeing 787 Dreamliners in the Air India fleet, investigators are examining multiple potential causes of the crash, including technical failure, flap malfunction, or even a possible bird strike.
As search teams comb through wreckage and authorities look for answers, Aishwarya Toshniwal’s story starts out as a rare glimmer of survival. But even in survival, there is no triumph, only a haunting memory of how close death came and a deep mourning for the lives lost just metres away.
In Akola, her family continues to pray, not just in gratitude for Aishwarya’s life, but in sorrow for those who never got the chance to make that one desperate call home.
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