One person has survived the crash of an Air India passenger plane in the Indian city of Ahmedabad with 242 people on board, AFP reported.

“Yes, one survivor has been confirmed,” said Dhananjay Dwivedi, chief secretary of the Gujarat state health department. The survivor has been taken to hospital.

The plane crashed into a building where doctors and their families live in a densely populated residential area of Ahmedabad, a city with a population of around eight million.

At the crash site, an AFP journalist saw people pulling bodies out and firefighters trying to extinguish the smoldering wreckage.

A man who wished to remain anonymous said, “We saw people jumping from the second and third floors of the building to save themselves. The plane was in flames.”

“When we got to the scene, there were several bodies and firefighters were putting out the flames,” said another witness to the tragedy, Punam Patni, adding that many of the bodies were burned beyond recognition.

“The tragedy in Ahmedabad has stunned and saddened us. It is heartbreaking beyond words,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi. | BGNES