“We are used to seeing planes taking off or landing at the airport, but I was horrified to see one heading right at us. The plane’s tail struck a building that houses a student hostel and got stuck. The front portion broke and, after falling down, skidded for a few metres before it hit another building,” Patel told This Week in Asia.
A deafening blast followed that engulfed four blocks in flames in his neighbourhood.
“Luckily, a few of the students and other people inside, who were having a meal, could escape from the stairs at the back. We saw about two dozen people come out alive from the blaze,” he said. “We straightaway took them in our cars to a nearby government hospital.”
The heat was so intense from the plane’s explosion that a few passers-by also died, Patel recalled.
