The Fire Department believes the pilots of Air India flight AI 171 saved thousands of lives by making a critical decision within just 15 seconds — choosing to land the aircraft in an open green zone to minimise casualties. The plane crash occurred within a 900-metre radius surrounded by greenery and four hostel buildings of BJ Medical College in Ahmedabad.

Remarkably, just a week before the tragic June 12 crash, Chief Fire Officer Om Jadeja of the Gandhinagar Fire Station had conducted a training session on how to respond to a plane crash. The session included procedures for extinguishing fires caused by aviation fuel and strategies for passenger rescue.

Firefighters work alongside multiple agencies in a race against time to rescue victims and recover bodies from the charred remains