Wayanad/Malappuram (Kerala) | Congress general secretary and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday said that once the reason for the Ahmedabad plane crash is found, corrective measures need to be taken to protect lives in the future.

Vadra, who is on a two-day visit to Kerala to inaugurate various developmental projects in her Lok Sabha constituency, told reporters here that the whole nation was grieving over the lives lost in the crash.

"We should be united in our grief and provide as much solidarity as we can to the families of the passengers and others, including medical students, who lost their lives in the incident. It is a moment where we need to stand together and just provide solidarity," she said.

The Congress MP further said that it was also important to find "what went wrong".

"It is being investigated. I am sure the investigating agencies will in the next few days enlighten the nation as to what happened. Then in the future, whatever corrective measures need to be taken, will be taken to protect people and lives," she said.

Later, at the inauguration of a new administrative block building at the MCF Public school at Kalpetta in Wayanad district, Vadra said the incident "teaches all of us to value every single moment of our lives".

"There were children, parents, grandparents and entire families on the plane who were looking forward to a new future. There was somebody from every walk of life. There was an ex-chief minister who had led a full life and was in politics all his life.

"In one moment, it was all over. It teaches all of us to value every single moment of our lives..," she said.

She also said that the entire nation was heartbroken on seeing the images of the crash on TV.

All but one of the 242 passengers and crew on board the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner (AI171) and another 24 persons including five MBBS students on the ground were killed on Thursday when the aircraft came down seconds after take-off before falling inside the campus of the state-run BJ Medical College campus in Meghaninagar area and going up in flames.

Only one person on the flight survived the crash.