(LEX 18) — Hundreds are dead and injured after an Air India flight bound for London crashed shortly after takeoff in Ahmedabad, India. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner hit a building that served as a doctor's hostel.
At least one passenger survived the crash.
"The first thing that came in my mind this morning was like, my parents just flew there. It is so scary, like you never know what's going to happen," said Shilpa Patel. "The next minute, it could be them."
Patel is the mother of LEX 18 Multimedia Journalist Ajay Patel. She was born and raised less than a mile from the crash site, and her parents are currently living there.
"My mom is like, oh, I'm watching news. We heard the big noise. Right now, it's a smoke in the air. Everything is gloomy," she said. "And she's hearing all the ambulance and the police sirens and everything, and it's so scary."
"It's literally a 5-minute walk from where I grew up," Patel added. "That's the airport we always fly in and out of.
She says when she heard the news, she immediately thought her family might be in trouble. Patel's parents live in a skyscraper in a city that doesn't have many tall buildings.
"I just went to the temple that I have inside my house. And I'm like, thank God, it's not that building. So, yes, but it is scary," she said.
So while she's thankful they are okay, Patel adds she's still anxious because millions of people live in the city.
As more information comes out, there's a good chance she knows people who have been injured or killed.
"Not only the people who were in the plane, but also many other people because it's a residential area," Patel said.
Her husband, Jay Patel, has fond memories of the area and knows nothing will be the same after this tragedy. He has an uncle who ran a cafeteria near the crash site. On past family trips, they would always grab a meal there.
"The sense of calm that you may have or routine when you drive by that area is gone," he said. "This is a big impact and change things for everybody living there for quite a while."
While the couple is currently traveling in the United States, today has been both mentally and physically taxing for them because they are across the globe and unable to help.
