AI plane crash: On BJMC anniversary day, sombre mood on campus coping with grief

Ahmedabad: An air of grief hung heavy on the campus of the B J Medical College and Hospital on Monday, with wailing kin awaiting identification of their loved ones who perished in the June 12 Air India plane crash, and medics who lost their colleagues in the tragedy bravely soldiering on.

Except that today is not an ordinary day in the academic calendar of this nearly 150-year-old medical institution, which annually marks June 16 as its foundation day.

The Ahmedabad air tragedy, which claimed the lives of all but one of the 242 passengers and crew on board, and several others on the ground, has left deep scars on BJMC's residential quarters and the psyche of the survivors.

The London-bound flight AI171 -- Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 -- crashed moments after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport here on Thursday afternoon, and fell onto the campus of the medical college in the Meghaninagar area, before going up in flames.

On that fateful day, many medical students and resident doctors had just sat for meals at the hostel mess of the BJMC, when the tail-side portion of the aircraft rammed into it, turning an ordinary lunch hour into a horrific nightmare.

Besides the 241 fatalities on board, another 29 persons, including five MBBS students, on the ground were killed in the Air India plane crash.

Soon after the crash, pieces of wreckage of the aircraft lay strewn around the hostel area, while thick layers of soot are still deposited on its buildings, damaged as a result of the crash.

Arun Prashant, a Chennai native and second-year MD student at the Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College (BJMC), recalled the horror and how he jumped from the first floor of a hostel building to escape.

“I came to have lunch around 1:30 pm. While having lunch, I heard a loud explosion, and suddenly there was smoke everywhere. I ran downstairs and then jumped from the first floor of the building,” Prashant told reporters in Ahmedabad a day after the crash.

"We were around 20-30 people at Atulyam (hostel)... We got to know it was a plane crash only after coming out of the building," Prashant recalled.

The images of the detached tail portion of the aircraft precariously lodged near the roof of the hostel mess building, pieces of the fuselage scattered on the ground and inside buildings, and piles of charred bodies still haunt many who have been affected by the tragedy.

Sagar Panjwani, a first-year resident doctor on the campus, said many students lost their laptops, mobile phones, clothes, and other belongings in the fire after the crash, as he lamented the loss of lives, both on board and on the ground.

The medical campus, which also houses many hospitals attached to the college, as well as the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, currently wears a sombre mood with grieving family members either awaiting identification of the mortal remains of their loved ones or waiting to collect the bodies of their kin.

The mortal remains of former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, who was on board the flight, have been identified through a DNA test, officials said on Sunday.

Hospital authorities have confirmed the identification of 80 victims through DNA matching, and said that 33 bodies have been handed over to the victims’ families so far.

The BJMC, which has now become the epicentre of action in the wake of the crash, is one of the oldest medical colleges in India, and marks its 146th anniversary on Monday.

Beginning its journey in 1871 as the Ahmedabad Medical School, the institute has been a cornerstone of medical education since its inception.

"Initially affiliated to the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, it began with just 14 students training as hospital assistants. In 1879, a generous donation of Rs 20,000 by Sir Byramjee Jeejeebhoy led to the school being renamed B J Medical School," according to its official website.

The institution steadily expanded, securing affiliation with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Bombay in 1917 and later with the Bombay University in 1946, earning its status as B J Medical College, "offering L C P S diplomas", it says.

The college, which currently has several large buildings on its campus, including the main block built after Independence, has a humble origin.

A bilingual -- English and Gujarati -- inscription on an old plaque associated with the institution reads, "The Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical School Ahmedabad, Established 16th June 1879.

Like the Sister Institution at Poona, this School takes its Name from the Late Hon'ble Mr Byramjee Jeejeebhoy, CSI, who Contributed a Sum of Rs 20,000 Towards the Construction of the School Building.” In the 1950s, the college affiliated its undergraduate and postgraduate courses with the Gujarat University.

BJMC alumni have served various medical institutions throughout their phenomenal journey, and today would have been a day for jubilation, celebration, and exchanging greetings, but for the recent air crash, one of the worst aviation disasters in recent history.

On June 16 last year, many of its students and alumni had taken to social media to wish their college and alma mater a "happy birthday", but grief and chaotic scenes are what is evident on the campus right now, as survivors and family members struggle to come to terms with the crash.

Amid the tragedy, the doctors of this prestigious institution continue to serve the injured, the ailing, and the needy, living up to the pledge they take after graduation.

"Each year, 250 students secure admission through a national entrance examination, receiving world-class training in medical sciences," the BJMC website says.

Postgraduate courses are offered in 24 branches of medicine, with a total intake of 418 students annually, it says.

While June 16 is already enshrined as a historic day for this institute, now June 12 too will be etched in the collective consciousness of people associated with the medical college -- a day they will wish to forget.