India, June 14 -- India is mourning the lives lost in Ahmedabad on Thursday, when an Air India Boeing Dreamliner from the city bound for London crashed into the BG Medical College hostel, 33 seconds after take-off. Of the 242 people on board - 230 passengers, including the former chief minister of Gujarat Vijay Rupani, and 12 crew members - just one person, a British citizen of Indian origin, survived. The survivor, Viswash Kumar Ramesh, however, lost his sibling, who was travelling in the same flight. Other casualties include medical students taking lunch at the hostel mess hall, and at least one person from the locality, when the aircraft turned into a fireball that charred the surroundings. Just as we try to come to terms with the loss of so many lives, a slew of questions await answers. The Ahmedabad crash is the nation's worst air tragedy since the 1996 mid-air crash over Charkhi-Dadri in Haryana that killed 349 people. On the top of everyone's mind is how the Dreamliner, which had no record of fatal accidents until Thursday, crashed immediately after take-off. Was dual-engine failure the cause? Did the control system fail? Was there a bird hit? Was the fuel contaminated? Or, were there other concerns? All these will be answered only after a thorough probe. To be sure, such a painstaking process will take time. Until then, it is best not to jump to conclusions, or pin blame on the airline company, the pilots, or the maker of the aircraft, Boeing. Investigation will be a challenge since the aircraft had crashed in an urban space and hundreds of persons gathered at the site before it could be secured by the authorities. A thorough sweep of the site is necessary not just to recover evidence that may help in discovering the cause of the crash, but also establishing the identity of the dead. The AI-171 crash is also an occasion to closely consider all concerns regarding airline safety. Flying has become safer over time, but an accident of this scale is bound to cast a shadow over the sector, which has been expanding at great speed in India. The expansion of the middle-class, rise in disposable incomes, and professional exigencies have led to a spike in the demand for air travel. New airports have been built and existing ones expanded to meet the demand. Airline companies - Indian and foreign - too have cashed in on the rush and have included new destinations in their itineraries and expanded the number of flights: Between 2019 and 2024, the number of domestic routes rose from 646 to 823. In the same period, domestic air passenger numbers grew from 137.6 million in 2019 to 228 million in 2024. However, it has been a hard task to meet the sector's need for quality personnel - pilots to ground staff including maintenance engineers - with reports flagging a decline in pilot training and so on. These concerns and fears - some of them exaggerated - will have to be considered and addressed to reassure fliers that safety is never compromised. Indian aviation has been a great story of economic liberalisation - the country is now the world's third largest aviation market. The Centre intends to turn India into an aviation hub and compete with the likes of Dubai and Singapore. Passenger satisfaction and trust is crucial to realising this ambition: The AI-171 crash may cast a shadow over such prospects. Which is why the government should do its best to establish the cause of the crash, pin responsibility, penalise the guilty, and undertake necessary remedial measures....