Unidentified miscreants looted almirahs and safes inside the building that was damaged in the Ahmedabad–London Air India plane crash, Gujarati media reports said. The looters reportedly entered the building posing as civilian volunteers, the reports added. While many responsible citizens arrived at the building—housing intern doctors—to help those affected, a few rogues took the opportunity to break open safes located in the abandoned rooms.
While relief and rescue operations were underway, miscreants managed to access areas where the hostel residents had stored their valuables, Gujarat Samachar reported. Among the items looted from the damaged rooms were cash, jewellery, and mobile phones, the news report added.
Air India Flight AI 171 crashed into the hostel as it went down, causing a massive fire. At least eight occupants of the building are feared to have died in the incident, which severely damaged the third, fourth, and fifth floors. Local media reports claimed that a wing of the aircraft struck the building, which housed at least fifty individuals. Many residents were seen jumping from the building to save themselves from the blaze.
"The plane was flying very low and it crashed into the residential quarters of doctors and nursing staff of Civil Hospital and BJ Medical College," Haresh Shah, an eyewitness, told PTI.
"There are several five-floor buildings which are residential quarters of doctors and nursing staff. Many people in those apartments were injured, as the buildings also caught fire along with the plane," he said.
Another eyewitness said that several cars and vehicles parked in the premises also caught fire.