"Insensitive...": Congress' Jairam Ramesh questions Amit Shah's statement on Ahmedabad plane crash

New Delhi [India], June 13 (ANI): Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh on Friday slammed Home Minister Amit Shah for his statement on the Air India flight crash in Ahmedabad and termed it as 'insensitive.'
The Congress leader responded to a post where Home Minister Amit Shah could be seen saying, "This is an accident, and nobody can stop accidents."
Replying to Shah's statement, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, "Is this what the Union Home Minister should be saying now? It is most insensitive."
Congress leader Pawan Khera also took to X and posted, "When a plane crashes and people die, the least a Home Minister can offer is a promise of accountability, not a shrug and a lecture on fate. Nobody can stop accidents' is an abdication. If nothing can be prevented, why do we have ministries at all?"'
"Aviation accidents are not acts of God - they are preventable. That's why we have aviation regulators, safety protocols, and crisis response systems. By the Home Minister's logic, should we stop investing in safety infrastructure, regulation, or crisis preparedness altogether? Just leave it to fate and call it a day?" his post read.
On Thursday, Amit Shah met with Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and obtained detailed information about the entire incident. Shah said that there was no chance of saving anyone in the London-bound Air India plane crash because of the high temperature caused by the burning of almost 125,000 litres of fuel in the aircraft.
Expressing condolences to family members of those killed, Shah said the exact number of deaths will be officially released only after DNA tests. Shah revealed that approximately 1000 DNA tests have been conducted so far.
"The plane carried almost 125,000 litres of fuel, and due to the high temperature, there was no chance of saving anyone... "I visited the crash site," the Home Minister told mediapersons.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital and met with Vishwashkumar Ramesh, the lone person to miraculously survive 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.
The Prime Minister, who arrived in the city earlier today, also met with others admitted to the same hospital, with injuries sustained after the Air India flight crash.
Before arriving at the hospital, PM Modi inspected the plane crash site and took stock of the ground situation. He also held a review meeting with the officials at the airport in Ahmedabad.
The AI-171 Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 aeroplane bound for London's Gatwick had crashed shortly after it took off from the Ahmedabad International Airport on Thursday. 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 made by ATC.
Immediately after departing Runway 23, the aircraft crashed outside the airport perimeter. An official said heavy black smoke was coming from the accident site. (ANI)