"I pay humble tributes to him": Nitin Patel expresses grief over Vijay Rupani's demise in Air India plane crash

Speaking to the mediapersons, Patel said, "Hearing the news and watching it on TV has pained lakhs and crores of Gujaratis and crores of BJP workers. Vijay Rupani was a CM with whom I received the opportunity to work as a Deputy CM. We worked for the state like brothers. On behalf of all of us, I pay humble tributes to him."

Former Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani was among the 242 passengers on the Air India flight bound for London that crashed soon after taking off from Ahmedabad, killing 241 people on board. One passenger survived the crash.

Earlier in the day, Adani Group Chairperson Gautam Adani visited Vijay Rupani's residence.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party President JP Nadda also expressed sorrow and grief over the tragic demise of Vijay Rupani.

On Thursday, the Al-171 Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 aeroplane bound for London's Gatwick had crashed shortly after it took off from the Ahmedabad International Airport. The airlines said only one out of the 242 people on board the aircraft survived the crash.

The aircraft was piloted by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, a Line Training Captain with 8,200 hours of flying experience, assisted by First Officer Clive Kundar, who had logged 1,100 flying hours.

According to Air Traffic Control (ATC), the aircraft departed from Ahmedabad at 1339 IST (0809 UTC) from runway 23. It made a Mayday call to ATC, but thereafter, the aircraft did not respond to the calls.

Immediately after departing from Runway 23, the aircraft crashed outside the airport perimeter, and heavy black smoke began emanating from the accident site.

Vishwashkumar Ramesh miraculously survived the Air India plane crash a day ago, in which 241 other passengers died. Kumar, a British national of Indian origin, was seated in row 11, at the left window seat in the flight's economy class section, right behind an emergency exit.

There were 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese nationals, and one Canadian national on board the crashed plane, airline authorities said. (ANI)