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One of the contributors describing the footage that is being shared online
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it's very much part of the modern world, isn't it? But at least in this context, it isn't fake news
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These are films made by people in the area, quite a hard area to get to for journalists based in Delhi, for example
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which is hours away. What have you seen, Fraser? What kind of footage is being shared
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Yeah, I mean, as you can imagine, over the past few hours, journalists all over the world have been trying to verify some of this these images so the ones
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that we know are from the area are just scenes of devastation James you know at first it was videos
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of big black plumes of smoke and then there was videos of the plane itself actually crashing we
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saw a huge fireball coming from that and now it's the aftermath which is you know a building that
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looks to be really seriously damaged. You've got debris everywhere. There's smoke still
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billowing out. You've got firefighters with hosies. You've got huge crowds of people who are coming
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to try and help to rescue some of the injured who are trapped in the rubble. I mean, there are
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bits of planes sort of scattered around the place that are, as I say, the sort of buildings that it
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looks like this plane has gone into. I've just seen one crash up now with the tail of the plane
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hanging out the side of one of the buildings. It really is devastating
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and it just shows you the sort of scale of this. And in the past sort of half an hour
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we have had confirmed that there have been at least 30 bodies recovered from the rubble there
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and rescuers are still trying to focus on getting some of the injured out of there We heard India health minister saying many people have been killed And a reminder that there were 53 British nationals on board that plane
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169 Indian nationals, one Canadian, seven Portuguese, and reports that among them were 11 children
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So terrible scenes of devastation in what happened in just a few minutes after take-off
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the plane coming down within five minutes, having lost signal with air traffic control
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in under a minute after taking off from Ahmedabad Airport in western India
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As you say, the breakdown of the people on board makes it even more relevant, of course
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to people listening in this country. Has our Foreign Office put out a number yet
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that can be contacted? It has, yes. The Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, has been saying that they
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are working with authorities in India to try and piece together the facts and to try and to offer
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support where they can. And as I say, 53 British people on that plane, they've put out a number
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for people to contact the Foreign Office if they are concerned. And I'll give it to you just now
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It's 0207 008 5000. 0207 008 5000
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And a reminder, this was a plane that left a Midabad airport. It was an Air India flight, AI-171, heading for London Gatwick Airport
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And Gatwick Airport saying that it was due to land there at 6.25pm this evening
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And also among the footage that is popping up in front of us volunteers just ordinary people on the ground trying to help trying to get involved and trying to no doubt exposing themselves to some risk as well But the chaos is really the only word that you can use to describe what unfolding at the moment
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Yeah, you can feel the chaos from the images that are coming out. And also just the amount of, you know, as you can imagine, the amount of smoke and debris and dust that's being blown up
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I mean, a lot of the pictures I've seen, you're not seeing very far in front of yourself when you're right in amongst the rubble
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And, I mean, crowds certainly in the images I've seen of, you know, 50, 100, 150 people, all there kind of gathered round, some of them clearly looking in shock, but others just wanting to try and help
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There are so many people. I mean, that's 242 people on board and also crashing into, you know, what is a residential area, Magani Nagar, just outside the perimeter of that airport
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Some reports that the building the plane has gone into was a doctor's hostel
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Yeah, I've seen that. And so people are just trying to focus on getting any of the survivors out
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And of course, when we talk about casualties or even deaths, it will be some time before anybody can determine
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whether or not these are people who were on the plane or whether or not these were people who were in buildings
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or in the environs where the crash occurred. Yeah, exactly. It will take some time to piece that together
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What we know, though, was 242 on board, 12 of them crew members
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so there were two pilots on board and ten crew members but yeah, and you know
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there will have been a number of people around that residential area where clearly, you know
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now there are stretchers being wheeled through hospitals there's cameras outside the hospitals
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there as well and stories coming through very slowly too as well
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of people who were in the area when the crash happened one person sort of saying that her son had just gone into the doctor hostel for a lunch break when the plane crashed and she says he jumped from the second
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floor window and suffered injuries but it is safe so you know we're going to hear more and more of
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these stories of you know how this unfolded but yeah the foreign office i'll just read that number
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one more time in case anyone missed it 0207 008 5000 for anyone who has concerns and wants to be
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kept updated Fraser thank you and um and thank you in advance for any any forthcoming updates that
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will no doubt be unfolding throughout the day if you are just tuning in and I have to be conscious
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that people will be then um it's my sad duty to inform you that a an Air India plane um crashed
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shortly after takeoff this morning with 242 people on board. It was bound for London Gatwick Airport
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and there were 53 British people among that passenger total, 12 members of crew as well
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The footage that Fraser has just been describing and which is now sort of gathering momentum, if you like
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there's more and more of it now emerging because, of course, everybody walks around with a camera in their pocket these days
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It is absolutely hideous. I mean, absolutely harrowing images of parts of the aircraft apparently embedded in the side of a building, a building that is now being widely reported as being a student doctor, a medic hostel, a hostel for student doctors
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And as Fraser just told us, reports also now coming in of people escaping from the locus of the crash
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people who were on the ground when the plane hit, as opposed to the original focus of concern
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which would have been the people who were on the plane
