Live Update on Ghatkopar Crash: Residents petrified for their lives

A chartered plane crashed on the afternoon of 28 June and had the residents in the vicinity terrified who later asserted they saw the plane coming down and were petrified that it would crash into their buildings.

The aircraft VT-UPZ, KING AIR C90, finally crashed into a construction site at Old Malik Estate, Jeev Daya Lane, near the telephone exchange, killing four people on board as well as a pedestrian who was walking by.

Anant Kandhor, a businessman who lives half a kilometre away from the site of the mishap, said he suspected something was amiss when he saw the plane flying considerably lower than other aircraft. “Then it went past my balcony, and it was so close I thought it would crash into my building.”

“The plane circled low over our locality and then crashed into the barricades around the construction site and a tree,” said Haribhai Patel, resident of a building near the crash site. “It looked like the pilot was looking for an empty plot to land. He may not have realised it was a construction site.”

Officials at the construction site said the death toll would have been far higher had the plane crashed any earlier. The aircraft crashed around 1.15 pm, when the workers had stepped out for lunch. Work was expected to restart only at 3pm. “The lives of around 30 workers were saved because it was lunch time,” said Jignesh Patel, a construction site official.

In a management institute just behind the site, around 250 students were said to be attending classes when the aircraft crashed, unaware of an averted doom.

“The building has been under construction for the past five years. It had not been getting clearance because of height limitations as this a flying zone. They got the clearance only recently,” said Naina Gala, a homemaker who lives in the neighbourhood.

Mumbai Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwat and BJP leader Kirit Somaiya have visited the spot. Member of Parliament Kirit Somaiya, who was at the site of the crash, said: “The passerby lost his life as parts of the plane hit him.” Babasaheb Umap, who lives in the locality, said: “The man was walking on the road when the plane came crashing down. It hit him. And it was leaking fuel as it crashed. Before we could do anything, the fuel caught fire.”