It was a close call for at least a dozen families living along Jeev Daya Lane in Ghatkopar (West) on Thursday, when a chartered plane cannoned into the ground right under their noses in the afternoon. It was so close and extremely loud, the residents said, that they lost their bearings for a time and shuddered with the sonic waves.
Hardly 10 metres from the crash site is a dense hub of residential buildings and some shanties. The residents recalled the incident as one of the most horrifying things they have witnessed. They said that the intensity of the sound was so high that they were disoriented for a while.
They said it was fortunate the plane came down at a site where work was not going on in full swing because it had been raining. Arundhati Mhaske, a resident, said they would not have survived if the craft had come down on their side of the road. "The road is hardly 5-6 metre wide and the flight fell on the other side of it. Had it hit our side, the damage would have been much more," said Mhaske.
The residents said that as the area falls under the airport's funnel zone, they continually hear flights taking off or landing. "Hearing a plane's sound is normal for us. But the crashing sound was so loud that we shivered," said Pradeep Prajapati, a shop owner.
Prathmesh Lokhande, another resident, said he was on his way to a bank when he heard the boom and thud. "I saw flames at a construction site. I rushed there and saw that part of a flight was burning," he said.
