Seventeen-year-old Aryan Asari never expected that a simple video would turn into one of the most shocking clips on the internet. Aryan, who had just come to Ahmedabad to visit his father, ended up recording the final moments of the Air India Dreamliner 787-8 crash on June 12. The video went viral and could help experts understand how the accident happened.

How Aryan captured the crash

Aryan reached his father's rented flat in Meghaninagar, an area close to the Ahmedabad airport, around 12.30 pm on Thursday. He noticed that many planes flew very low in that area. Feeling excited, he went to the terrace along with his sister and his friend Raj Singh to watch the planes.

"The plane was passing very close, so I thought of shooting a video so I could show it to my friends. "The plane went downwards, and I thought it was going to land, as the airport was nearby," Aryan told ANI.

But what happened next left him shocked. "But when it went down, flames started coming up, and we saw that it had exploded. I was scared. I showed the video to my sister. "I also told my father about it," he added.

Aryan was simply trying to enjoy a new experience, but instead, he filmed the crash of flight AI 171, which was going to London. The plane crashed less than a minute after take-off, killing 241 of the 242 people on board, including former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. Several people on the ground also died.

“I will never sit in an aeroplane”

Later that night, Aryan found it difficult to sleep. "When I saw the news and realised I had filmed the final moments of that plane, it hit me. I still can’t believe it,” he told The Indian Express.

His family said he was deeply traumatised. The police took him in for questioning and collected his statement, as his video could be important in finding out what went wrong.

"I will never sit in an aeroplane," he said quietly.

The Ahmedabad Crime Branch summoned Aryan on June 14 to take his statement. People on social media started saying he had been detained, but the police later confirmed he was only called as a witness.

Aryan’s landlady, Kailashbhen Thakur, told The Hindu, "He had just arrived in the city for the first time. Within an hour, he witnessed something no one should ever see." She said Aryan was so disturbed that he decided to return to his village and focus on his studies.

Aryan’s short video may help investigators understand the crash better, but for him, it will always be a memory he wishes he never had.

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