India, June 12 -- An IndiGo passenger has revealed that he witnessed the terrifying crash of Air India flight AI-171 moments after it took off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.

Chandrakant Patil, an IndiGo passenger, told news agency ANI that he was about to board his flight to Pune when he saw thick plumes of smoke rising from a distance. "It looked like a forest fire. We took pictures of the smoke, not knowing what it was. Soon after boarding the aircraft, an announcement of a flight delay was made, but we were not told that such a crash had taken place. We got to know about it only after we checked our phones," he said.

Patil also described chaotic scenes at Ahmedabad airport with a large number of passengers l...