- Monday, June 16, 2025
Seventeen-year-old Aryan Asari came to Ahmedabad to visit his father and prepare for Class 12—what he ended up witnessing was one of India’s worst aviation tragedies. His video now plays a key role in the official probe.
By: Vibhuti Pathak
Seventeen-year-old Aryan Asari stepped into Ahmedabad on June 12 with plans as ordinary as any schoolboy’s—buy textbooks for his Class 12 studies and visit his father, a retired Army man now working as a metro security guard. But what awaited him that morning would shatter any sense of normalcy.
Aryan’s father had arranged for him to stay in a modest rented house in Meghaninagar, a residential pocket nestled between the airport and the BJ Medical College campus. On his first afternoon, curious about a plane flying unusually low overhead, Aryan climbed onto the terrace with his phone.
#WATCH | #AhmedabadPlaneCrash | Aryan Asari, the boy who recorded a viral video showing the crash of Air India flight 171 on 12th June, says “I came here on June 12. The plane was passing from very close, so I thought of shooting a video so I could show it to my friends. The… pic.twitter.com/tGOZPrBgNa
— ANI (@ANI) June 15, 2025
“I was recording a video of a plane flying low out of curiosity because I had never seen one from such a close distance,” Aryan said.
Moments later, the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner—flight AI-171—nosedived and exploded into flames.
“Then It Crashed and Burst Into Flames Right in Front of My Eyes”
2024: Just before “committing suicide”, Boeing whistleblower John Barnett warned of major quality issues in the company’s 787 aircraft that could lead to a fatal crash. 👀
Today: Air India Boeing 787 bound for London crashes shortly after takeoff killing 242 people.
RIP 😢 pic.twitter.com/NwGtpqpKLR
— James Li (@5149jamesli) June 12, 2025
What Aryan’s camera captured was harrowing. The aircraft, carrying 242 passengers and crew, began descending rapidly after takeoff. Aryan, initially assuming it was landing nearby, kept recording. But the Boeing 787 crashed into the BJ Medical College mess hall, killing 241 onboard and 29 people on the ground.
“It was terrifying,” Aryan told reporters, his voice trembling. “I just wanted to see a plane, not watch one fall from the sky.”
His footage instantly went viral—first shared with his father, then his sister, and then across social media. What began as innocent curiosity turned Aryan into an accidental witness to a national catastrophe.
“The Video May Help Correlate Black Box Data”
Aryan’s footage quickly drew attention from investigators. A joint team from India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), Air India, and Boeing formally requested the video to examine the crash’s final moments.
“The footage is being treated as crucial technical evidence,” said a senior aviation officer. “It’s helping experts analyze the plane’s unusual descent and detect anomalies not captured in other surveillance systems.”
Authorities are comparing Aryan’s video with the aircraft’s black box data and CCTV recordings from the college canteen. These visual sources are helping reconstruct the timeline of the crash and explore if the cause was technical malfunction, human error, or other factors.
“He Couldn’t Eat or Speak for Hours”
While Aryan’s video is now a key part of the crash investigation, the teenager has struggled to process what he witnessed. The family’s landlord, Kailashba, said Aryan was pale and silent after the incident.
“Who could have thought a schoolboy would witness such horror on his first day in the city? He just sat there shaking,” she said.
He later gave his statement to the Ahmedabad Crime Branch. But nightmares, anxiety, and flashbacks persisted. Traumatized, Aryan requested to return to his native village in Aravalli district.
“He whispered to me—‘I just wanted to see a plane,’” his father recalled, heartbroken. “Now he won’t go near a window when he hears aircraft noise.”
“We Are Looking at All Possibilities, Including Sabotage”
Police sources confirmed they are pursuing all investigative angles, including technical failure, pilot error, and potential sabotage.
“After the initial focus on rescue, we immediately got on to investigating the possibility of a sabotage as the first line of police investigation,” said a senior crime branch official.
According to aviation sources, experts spotted an anomaly in the plane’s angle of ascent. While conclusions are pending the full black box analysis, Aryan’s footage is said to be “instrumental in pinpointing the start of the descent.”
A Haunting Memory, A National Tragedy
Aryan Asari didn’t ask to be a part of history. But with a smartphone in hand and an eye on the skies, he found himself documenting the final, tragic moments of flight AI-171.
“The world should know what happened,” Aryan told his father before leaving for Aravalli. “But I don’t want to remember it.”
For Aryan, healing will take time. But his courage in sharing the video has provided families and investigators a clearer view of one of the darkest days in Indian aviation. His accidental recording is more than viral content—it’s now a piece of history.
