Gujarat Teen Who Filmed Air India Crash Returns to Village, Says He’s Shaken by Tragedy
The teenager who captured the video of the Air India crash has been deeply affected by the tragic event and has chosen to return to his village to continue his studies.
Gujarat teenager Aryan Asari had recently visited his father’s rented place in Saraswati Nagar on the afternoon of June 12. The location is just a few minutes from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.
The enthusiastic 17-year-old was excited to record a video of an aircraft flying in close proximity, as he wanted to show it to his friends in his native village.
Tragedy struck when his recording unexpectedly captured the horrific Air India crash. Aryan Asari’s video gave the world the first glimpse of what happened to Air India’s AI171 Boeing 787-7 Dreamliner.
“I had arrived at my father’s place around 12:30 p.m. and went up to the terrace after hearing that planes often flew past. I was curious, so I started filming a video of one flying unusually low — it was the closest I had ever seen a plane. At first, I thought it was preparing to land at the far end of the airport. But within moments, it crashed and exploded into flames right in front of me. The whole scene was horrifying,” he recounted to the media.
“I can never step onto a plane,” he added. The traumatic incident has visibly shaken the teenager.
His sister told news agency PTI that he no longer wanted to live in the area, considering it to be dangerous.
The video Aryan recorded has since gone viral, prompting the Ahmedabad Crime Branch to record his statement on Saturday as a key witness. The police later released a statement clarifying that the boy was not detained. “He came with his father to give a statement as a witness. He was then sent away with his father. No arrests or detentions have been made,” the police said.
Kailashbhen Thakur, the landlady of the house, said the boy had just visited the new place and, within an hour, witnessed something traumatic that no one should ever have to see. She added that he was deeply disturbed by the incident and had decided to return to his village to resume his studies.
Air India’s AI171 Boeing 787-7 Dreamliner crashed into the hostel complex of BJ Medical College in Meghani Nagar within minutes of its takeoff from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.
The tragedy claimed the lives of 241 people aboard the aircraft, leaving just one survivor.
