Eyewitnesses recall Old Faridabad's night of horror

The Pilatus PC-12 single-engine turboprop aircraft that crashed into a densely-populated colony in Old Faridabad, killing all seven on board and three on the ground, first circled the entire colony before crashing.

Eyewitnesses say that the airplane was dangerously close to the ground and was completely at the mercy of the strong gusts of wind the area witnessed.

"It swirled for about half a minute in the locality. I was just closing up my shop, when I saw the plane flying very close to the ground. It was circling in the direction the wind was blowing," said Amit Singh, whose shop is about 100 metres from the accident site.

There was a rumble coming from the plane. Suddenly, it crashed and burst into flames," he added.

The plane first hit the terrace of one house, bounced off it, and then crashed into another house, killing three women who were on the terrace.

Indra Lal, the resident of the house the plane first hit, points out to the terrace of her house, where there is a hole.

"Can you see that? We were sleeping, when there was a thunderous noise overhead. The plane first hit our room and the whole house shook. It then bounced off our terrace and fell on the house of the Sehrawats," Indra says.

"We were lucky, but it proved fatal for the Sehrawats, who have been living in this area since 15 years," her husband, Lalit Lal, adds.

A neighbor, Omkar Kumar, was with his friends when he saw the plane crash. He immediately went to their rescue and in the process got serious burn injuries on his face.

"It was chaotic. When the plane crashed, my friends and I rushed there. We broke open water tanks on the roofs and tried to extinguish the flames. I tried to go into the house where the plane had crashed to look for survivors, but the flames were too intense," Omkar says.

"When the plane crashed, it broke into two pieces. One part (body) rested on the roof and the other (nose) fell on the street below. Its fuel tank exploded first and the whole house went up in flames," he said.

"After that, there were two small explosions. I got injured from the second one, and fell unconscious," Omkar says.

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His friend Arvind Singh also received injuries on the head.

"I was also trying to rescue the people inside, but because of a blast, one of the pieces hit my head, knocking me unconscious," Arvind Singh says.

Satish Kumar, another friend, received injuries on his legs after he tripped and fell.

"We were all trying to extinguish the flames, but because of the heavy smoke, I could not see where I was going. I tripped on one of the airplane parts and fell down. Something fell on my leg and fractured it," Kumar says.