- Author, Zoya Mateen
- Author's title, BBC News, Delhi
Every time Aryan Asari heard the sound of a plane, he was running from home to see him.
Sighting airplanes was a kind of hobby for him, his father said, Maganbhai Asari. Aryan loved the roar of the engine that filled the air and then became stronger as the plane flew over it, leaving behind condensation steles in the sky.
But now, just thinking about it makes you sick.
Last Thursday, the 17-year-old was on the terrace of his father's house in Ahmedabad, recording videos of airplanes, when a 787-8 Dreamliner from Air India crashed before his eyes and exploded in flames, killing the 241 people on board.
Almost 30 people also died on land.
The moment was captured by Aryan on his phone.
“I saw the plane. It fell and fell. Then it staggered and crashed into my eyes,” Gujarati told BBC in an interview earlier this week.
The video, now a crucial track for researchers trying to find the cause of the accident, has caused a stir in the media and has placed Aryan, a high school student, in the center of one of the worst aviation disasters in the history of the country.
“We have flooded interview requests. Journalists have been around my house day and night asking to talk to him,” said Maganhai Asari to the BBC.
The accident, and what has followed since then, has had a devastating impact on Aryan, who is traumatized for what he saw. “My son is so scared that he has stopped using the phone,” said his father.
Image source, EPA
“He trembled, moved from one place to another”
Asari Padre, a soldier retired from the army that now works in the city's subway service, has been living in a neighborhood near the airport for three years and recently moved to a small room located on the terrace of a three -storey building, with a clear view of the city's horizon.
His wife and two children, Aryan and his older sister, still live in their ancestral village, near the border between the states of Gujarat and Rajastán.
“This was the first time Aryan visited Ahmedabad. In fact, it was the first time in his life that came out of the village,” said his father.
“Every time I called, Aryan asked me if I could see aircraft from my terrace and I told him that hundreds of them were furrowing.”
Aryan, he explained, was an airplane enthusiastic and liked to observe them while flying over their village. The idea of being able to see them much more closely from the terrace of his father's new house was very attractive.
Last week there was an opportunity when his older sister, who wants to be a policeman, traveled to Ahmedabad to take the entrance exam.
Aryan decided to accompany her. “He told me that he wanted to buy new notebooks and clothes,” said Mr. Asari.
The brothers came to their father's house around noon on Thursday, approximately one hour and a half before the accident.
The family had a meeting, after which the Asari went to work, leaving children at home.
Aryan went to the terrace and started recording videos to show them to his friends. It was then that he saw the airplane of Air India and began to film him, according to BBC Gujarati.
Aryan soon realized that something was not going well with the plane: “He trembled, moved from one place to another,” he said. While the plane descended, he continued to film it, unable to understand what was about to happen.
But when a dense smoke filled the air and a fire emerged from the buildings, he finally understood what he had just witnessed.
He sent the video to his father and called him.
“I was out of horror”
“It seemed very scared: 'I saw him, dad, I saw him crash,' he said, and I kept asking me what would happen to him. I told him to stay calm and not worry,” Asari said. “But I was out of his horror.”
Asari also asked his son not to share the video. However, too scared and shocked, Aryan sent it to some friends. “Suddenly, the video was everywhere.”
The following days were a nightmare for the family.
Neighbors, journalists and cameramen flooded the little house of Asari day and night, asking to talk to Aryan. “We couldn't do anything to stop them,” he said.
The family also received the visit of the Police, which led Aryan to the police station and recorded their statement.
Mr. Asari clarified that, contrary to the informed, Aryan was not arrested, but the police interrogated him for several hours about what he saw. “By then, my son was so disturbed that we decided to send him back to the town.”
Back at home, Aryan has returned to school, but “he still doesn't feel like before. His mother tells me that every time his phone rings, he scares himself,” said his father.
“I know that over time he will recover. But I don't think my son tries to see planes in the sky,” he added.
Additional reporting by Roxy Gagdekar, BBC Gujarati, in Ahmedabad.
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