The temperature at the site of the Air India plane crash reached nearly 1,000 degrees Celsius, making rescue operations nearly impossible, officials said on Thursday night. Even animals like birds and dogs couldn't survive the extreme heat, they added.

The Air India flight, headed to London, crashed just minutes after taking off from Ahmedabad airport. It went down in a residential area near BJ Medical College, with 242 people on board. Union Minister Amit Shah said the aircraft had 1.25 lakh litres of fuel, and once it caught fire, no one could be saved due to the massive blaze.

An SDRF (State Disaster Response Force) officer said their team reached the hostel and staff quarters of the medical college between 2 and 2:30 pm, but by then, locals had already rescued a few people. Unfortunately, the rescue team couldn't find any more survivors.

A senior fire officer explained that the fuel tank exploded, instantly creating a firestorm that raised the temperature to 1,000 degrees Celsius, leaving little to no chance of survival. One SDRF member, who has handled emergencies since 2017, said he had never seen such a devastating incident in his career.“We reached the crash site wearing PPE kits, but the heat was so intense that it made our work very difficult,” said an SDRF official. “There was debris everywhere, and we had to clear it while it was still burning.”

The official, who wasn’t authorised to speak to the media, said his team recovered around 25 to 30 bodies, including children. “DNA tests will be needed to identify many of the bodies,” he added. Another SDRF member said he lost count of the number of bodies he pulled out. “The fire spread so fast that even animals and birds couldn’t escape,” he said, pointing to the burnt remains of dogs and birds in the area.

The crash claimed the lives of not just the passengers and crew, but also students living in the medical college hostel and others who were nearby. Police said 265 bodies were taken to the civil hospital, but officials have not yet confirmed the final death toll.