Dr Minakshi Parikh, Dean of BJ Medical College, confirmed that the deceased included two First Year and two Second Year medical students, along with the wife of a faculty member.

Dr Minakshi Parikh, Dean of BJ Medical College, confirmed that the deceased included two First Year and two Second Year medical students, along with the wife of a faculty member.

Dr Minakshi Parikh, Dean of BJ Medical College, confirmed that the deceased included two First Year and two Second Year medical students, along with the wife of a faculty member.

Ahmedabad: At least 24 people on the ground, including four MBBS students and a doctor’s wife, were killed when an Air India flight crashed into the hostel building of BJ Medical College in Ahmedabad’s Meghaninagar area on Thursday afternoon. The BJ Medical College is attached to the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital.The aircraft was en route to London when it lost altitude shortly after take-off and went down in a residential quarter near the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport killing 265 people including 241 onboard.

Dr Minakshi Parikh, Dean of BJ Medical College, confirmed that the deceased included two First Year and two Second Year medical students, along with the wife of a faculty member. Two more students remain missing, and 20 others have been reported injured. Five of them, including three First Year and two Second Year students, are said to be in critical condition.

ADVERTISEMENT

"Two Third Year students are also untraceable, and three family members of a doctor are missing," Dr Parikh said, adding that the college had to deploy teams of students to individually call up their peers to ascertain casualties. "Since the bodies that came in could not be identified, we made teams of students call up each student. That is how we got an idea of the casualties,” she explained. Forensic teams have arrived at the scene to assist with identification efforts.

The BJ Medical College hostel, residential quarters for hospital staff, and adjacent buildings sustained extensive damage in the crash. Eyewitnesses described the aircraft, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner (flight AI171), flying unusually low before crashing in a massive explosion around 2 pm.

ADVERTISEMENT

"There are several five-floor buildings which serve as staff quarters. Many people in those apartments were injured as the buildings caught fire," said Haresh Shah, a local resident. Another eyewitness reported that multiple parked vehicles were also gutted in the fire that followed the impact.

People gather near the site where an Air India plane crashed in Ahmedabad, India, June 12, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amit Dave

DNA profiling underway
As grieving families of the victims try to come to terms with the catastrophe and desperately wait to collect the bodies, police said bodies of six victims were handed over to their families after identification. Of the 265 bodies brought to the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital for post-mortem on Thursday, six victims were identified so far as their faces were intact, police inspector Chirag Gosai said.

ADVERTISEMENT

He said DNA profiling is underway to ascertain the identities of others as their bodies are charred beyond recognition. “Relatives of 215 deceased persons have approached us to give their samples," he added.

"It will take nearly 72 hours to complete the exercise of matching the DNA samples. Once there is a match, bodies will be handed over to relatives from the post-mortem room."