AHMEDABAD: The miracle report of a lone survivor from a London-bound passenger plane that crashed Thursday in the Indian city of Ahmedabad with 242 on board offered a glimmer of hope.

Indian rescue teams with sniffer dogs clawed through smoldering wreckage through the night searching for clues for what had caused the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for London’s Gatwick Airport to explode in a blazing fireball soon after takeoff from the western city of Ahmedabad.

Bodies from Air India’s flight 171 were lifted out of the torn fuselage, as well as being pulled out of the charred buildings of the medical staff hostel that the airplane smashed into, killing several there too.

The death toll currently stands at 260, police said.

But hours after police said that there “appears to be no survivor in the crash,” officials reported the initially seemingly impossible account that one man had walked out alive.

“One survivor is confirmed,” Dhananjay Dwivedi, principal secretary of Gujarat state’s health department, told AFP.

The person was being treated in hospital, he added without further details.

India’s Home Minister Amit Shah, who visited the crash site and then the hospital, said he was “pained beyond words by the tragic plane crash” in Ahmedabad, the main city in Gujarat state, where Shah is a lawmaker.

But he also told reporters he had heard the “good news of the survivor” and was speaking to them “after meeting him.”

Indian media widely reported the survivor had been sitting in seat 11A, after videos shared on social media showed a man — in a bloodied t-shirt and limping, but walking toward an ambulance.

He shared a boarding card that named him as Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a 40-year-old British national, one of 53 UK citizens on board.

AFP was not able to confirm the reports, but the BBC spoke to his cousin in the city of Leicester, Ajay Valgi, who reported that Ramesh had called his family to say he was “fine.”

Britain’s Press Association news agency also spoke to his brother, Nayan Kumar Ramesh, 27, also in Leicester.

“He said, I have no idea how I exited the plane,” his brother told PA.

But while Ramesh’s reported survival offered a chance of hope, stories also flooded in of heartbreaking loss: elderly parents going to visit children in Britain, or family returning home.

Air India is organizing relief flights — one from the capital New Delhi and another from financial hub Mumbai — to Ahmedabad for “the next of kin of passengers and Air India staff,” the information ministry said in a statement.

They will have to take part in the grim task of identifying the bodies, many of which were reported to have been badly burned.

The plane, which was full of fuel as it took off for a long-haul flight to London, exploded into a burst of orange flame, videos of the crash showed.

Dwivedi, the health official, said DNA collection facilities had been set up at BJ Medical College in Ahmedabad.

“DNA testing arrangements have been made,” he told reporters.

“Families and close relatives of the flight passengers, especially their parents and children, are requested to submit their samples at the location so that the victims can be identified at the earliest.”

NEW YORK CITY: Top UN officials on Wednesday warned the Security Council that there is a risk the fragile situation in Yemen could rapidly deteriorate, as they called for both intensified diplomatic efforts and increased humanitarian funding to stave off further instability and ease human suffering.

With Yemen’s economy in free fall and millions in need, they said time is running out to turn “hope into progress.”

The UN’s special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, and deputy emergency relief coordinator, Joyce Msuya, also highlighted the ongoing detention of UN workers and employees of nongovernmental organizations by the Houthis, a year after dozens were arbitrarily arrested.

“Their continued imprisonment is shameful,” said Grundberg. “I call again, in the strongest terms, for their immediate and unconditional release.”

Msuya echoed this condemnation, saying: “Twenty-three UN staff remain detained. I join the special envoy and the (UN) secretary-general in calling for their immediate release.”

The detentions, some dating back as far as 2021, have cast a long shadow over ongoing diplomatic efforts to reach a comprehensive peace agreement in Yemen, where multiple front lines remain active in the civil war and recent regional escalations have complicated a fragile status quo.

The Houthis, the official name for whom is Ansar Allah, have launched missile attacks on Israel in recent weeks, including one that targeted Ben Gurion Airport. Israel in turn struck Houthi-controlled infrastructure, including the destruction of a civilian aircraft at Sanaa International Airport. Grundberg warned that such escalations directly harm ordinary citizens.

“Yemenis living in Ansar Allah-controlled areas are unable to fly commercially from Sanaa Airport to seek medical treatment abroad, to travel for Hajj or visit their families,” he said.

He described the reopening of the airport in May 2022 as a key peace dividend of a now-lapsed truce agreement that year.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis in Yemen continues to deepen. Msuya described a deteriorating health and food-security situation affecting millions.

“Over 17 million people, or nearly half of Yemen’s population, are acutely hungry,” she told council members.

“Malnutrition affects 1.3 million pregnant and breastfeeding women and 2.3 million children under 5. Without sustained humanitarian support, an estimated 6 million more people could end up in emergency levels of food insecurity.”

Despite the challenges, Msuya noted some progress has been made, including the reopening of a key route between Aden and Sanaa via Al-Dhalea, which had been closed for nearly seven years.

“This development … shows that Yemen is not on a fixed, downhill trajectory,” she said. “With trust and the right tools, there remains hope.”

Grundberg also pointed to this development as a positive sign.

“I commend, again, the local facilitators across the front lines who worked to make this happen,” he said. “Yemen’s economy is in dire need of positive and trust-building steps such as these.”

However, the path forward in the country remains uncertain. Grundberg reported increased tensions around Marib, and troop movements in several governorates, warning that “conditions can change rapidly and unpredictably.”

Both officials reiterated that a long-term solution will require a political settlement and increased support from regional authorities.

Grundberg said he has held talks with the Yemeni government, the Houthis, and regional authorities including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Oman, and noted that there is a shared view that only negotiation can end the conflict.

He urged council members to “use your powerful voices, your diplomatic channels and your influence, to exert maximum pressure” on the Houthis both in the pursuit of peace and to secure the release of detainees.

Msuya concluded her remarks with three direct appeals: “Take the lead of the Senior Officials Meeting in May and follow up with scaled-up, flexible funding; take real action to see that UN and other detained colleagues are released…; (and) maintain your unified support for efforts toward lasting peace.”