There have been cases of a very small number of survivors in very serious accidents, but it is "very rare" for there to be only one, a professor told Newsweek.

The London-bound Boeing 787 struck a medical college hostel in a residential area of Ahmedabad minutes after takeoff Thursday, killing 241 people on board and at least 29 on the ground. One passenger survived.

People stand next to a condolence banner as they wait for the body of Sumeet Sabharwal, a pilot who died when an Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed during take-off from an airport, to be handed over to his family in Mumbai, India, June 17, 2025. REUTERS/Hemanshi Kamani