In the wreckage of the Air India Flight 171 crash in Ahmedabad that killed 265 people, an almost-intact copy of the Bhagavad Gita was found. Despite the intense fire, the holy book remained largely undamaged.
A Boeing 787 Dreamliner, operating as Flight AI171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, crashed shortly after take-off on Thursday, killing 241 people onboard. Just one individual on board survived the crash.
In the smouldering wreckage site, a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, the sacred Hindu scripture, was discovered in the debris.
Union Minister Amit Shah, who visited the crash site on Thursday, said that efforts to save people from the crash failed as the temperature rose to extreme levels due to the burning of 1.25 lakh litres of fuel on the aircraft.
The Bhagavad Gita copy was almost undamaged despite the intense blaze that melted much of the aircraft and other things onboard, reported Sweta Singh of Aajtak, India Today Digital’s sister portal.
Parts of the wreckage rained down on a densely populated area, crashing directly into a hostel of a nearby medical college.
The pages of the holy book appeared intact, with its text and images clearly visible. The jacketed cover, however, showed some signs of damage, which could be visually ascertained.
“Maybe it belonged to a passenger… someone must have been reading it. That’s why it’s here. Despite the intense heat, it remained intact. Every single picture, including that of Swami Prabhupada (the founder of ISKCON) is still exactly the same,” a rescue personnel at the crash site in Ahmedabad told Aajtak.
One might spot a faint smudge on a page somewhere, but the holy book looks almost intact, reported Aajtak’s Sweta Singh.
Videos and images of the book were shared widely on social media. It sparked awe, with many attributing it to a coincidence.
One survivor, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a British national, escaped with minor injuries.
The Air India crash, one of the deadliest in India’s aviation history, claimed more than 260 lives, including that of former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.
As investigations continue, with one black box recovered, the focus remains on determining the cause of the crash, while the Gita’s survival stands as a coincidence amid the devastation.