What We Know About a Passenger Plane Crash in Western India
An Air India passenger plane carrying 242 people that was bound for London crashed in western India on Thursday, the airline said on social media.
Flight AI171, which crashed shortly after takeoff outside of the Ahmedabad airport in the state of Gujarat, was headed for London's Gatwick Airport, Air India said.
Although exact casualty figures weren't immediately known, the airline said that those who were injured were being taken to hospitals.
'Shocked and devastated to learn about the flight crash in Ahmedabad,' India's minister of civil aviation, Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, wrote on social media. 'We are on highest alert.'
Where did the crash take place?
The plane crashed near the airport in the city of Ahmedabad. Air India confirmed that the flight 'was involved in an accident today after takeoff.'
The plane, which Air India said was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, left the airport at 1:38 p.m. local time.
Videos shared by local media showed enormous plumes of thick black smoke billowing in the sky near the airport.
Who was on the flight?
Air India said that the plane's 242 passengers and crew members included 169 Indians, 53 Britons, one Canadian and seven Portuguese.
What was the cause?
It was not immediately clear why the plane crashed.
What is Air India's safety record?
Air India, the country's flagship carrier, has worked to boost its record after a cluster of dangerous incidents about 15 years ago.
Its last major crash was in 2020, when a passenger plane from Air India Express, a subsidiary, skidded and cracked in half on a rain-soaked runway. At least 17 people died in that accident in the southern Indian state of Kerala, in which visibility was poor.
A decade earlier, in 2010, an Air India Express plane skidded off a hill in Mangalore, a city in the western state of Karnataka. It burst into flames, killing more than 150 people.
At the time, many were concerned about the safety of India's rapidly expanding aviation sector — in 2009, there were three near-misses at the Mumbai airport — as well as concerns about Air India's professionalism.
A plane had flown unmanned for several minutes during a scuffle between pilots and flight attendants, and another Air India plane was delayed 11 hours by a plane-wide search for rats.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The sole survivor of Air India's crash described feeling stuck midair within seconds of takeoff
NEW DELHI (AP) — The lone passenger who survived the Air India crash that killed 241 people onboard couldn't believe he was alive when he opened his eyes, surrounded by flames, debris and charred bodies. The British national of Indian origin, Viswashkumar Ramesh, was headed to London when the flight crashed minutes after taking off from India's northwestern city of Ahmedabad on Thursday afternoon. It was one of India's worst aviation disasters and the first crash for a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner since the widebody, twin-engine planes went into service in 2009, according to the Aviation Safety Network database. Currently admitted in a local government hospital, Ramesh narrated his ordeal to India's national broadcaster, saying the aircraft seemed stuck midair within a few seconds of the takeoff. He said green and white lights came on, and right after that, the aircraft accelerated but seemed unable to gain height before it crashed. Seated in 11A, Ramesh said his side of the plane fell onto the ground floor of a building, and there was space for him to escape after the door broke open. He unfastened his seat belt and forced himself out of the plane. 'When I opened my eyes, I realized I was alive,' he said. Ramesh sustained burn injuries on his left hand and walked some distance in shock before he was assisted by the locals and taken to the hospital in an ambulance. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited the crash side on Friday, met the lone survivor. 'I told Modi what all I had witnessed. He also enquired about my health,' Ramesh said from his hospital bed. Dr. Dhaval Gameti, who treated him, said he was disoriented with multiple injuries all over his body but seems to be out of danger. Ramesh, who had his boarding pass with him in the hospital, said he saw several passengers and crew members losing their lives and parts of the plane strewn around the crash site. Ramesh was traveling with his brother and called relatives in Leicester after the crash, his cousin, Ajay Valgi, told the BBC. He has a wife and 'little boy' at home. 'He only said that he's fine, nothing else,' Valgi said, adding that the family is 'happy that he's OK, but we're still upset about the other brother.' Ramesh's brother, Nayan Kumar Ramesh ,told Sky News that his brother called his father moments after the crash to say he had survived. 'He video called my dad as he crashed and said, 'Oh the plane's crashed. I don't know where my brother is. I don't see any other passengers. I don't know how I'm alive, how I exited the plane',' he told Sky. ___ This story corrects the spelling of Ramesh's first name. Rajesh Roy, The Associated Press
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
King Charles Makes Somber Last-Minute Changes to Trooping the Colour Parade amid Air India Tragedy
King Charles, 76, will wear a black armband on his military uniform in honor of the 241 victims of the Air India plane crash at the Trooping the Colour Parade on Saturday, June 14 Prince William and the Royal Mews staff will also wear black bands Following the inspection of the troops on Horse Guards Parade, there will be a moment of silence preceded by the sounding of the Last Post King Charles has made somber changes to the Trooping the Colour Parade to be held on Saturday, June 14, in honor of the victims of the deadly Air India plane crash. King Charles, 76, will wear a black armband on his military uniform, as will his son Prince William. Royal Mews staff who wear livery for the procession will also wear black armbands, along with mounted officers taking part in the procession. When the King takes his place on the dais after the inspection of the troops on Horse Guards Parade, there will be a moment of silence preceded by the sounding of the Last Post. The changes are being made as 'a mark of respect for the lives lost, the families in mourning and all the communities affected by this awful tragedy,' a Buckingham Palace spokesperson tells PEOPLE. This is not the first time that a royal procession has made changes to honor victims of a tragedy in the U.K. In 2017, three days after the Grenfell Fire disaster in London, a minute of silence was incorporated into the Birthday Parade ceremonies. The somber changes to the procession will pay tribute to the 241 passengers and crew killed in the tragic Air India Plane Crash on Thursday, June 12. The plane, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, had just departed Ahmedabad for London's Gatwick airport when it crashed. Only one survivor, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, has been identified. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Ramesh sustained 'impact injuries' to his chest, eyes and feet, according to The Hindustan Times, 'Thirty seconds after takeoff, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed,' he told the Times from his hospital bed. 'It all happened so quickly." "When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran," Ramesh said. "There were pieces of the plane all around me. Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital." Trooping the Colour is a celebration of the King's birthday. The ceremony will take place in London on Saturday, June 14. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Sole survivor: The 4-year-old girl who lived through the 1987 Detroit plane crash
The Brief Only one person walked away from the Air India crash Thursday that killed more than 240 people. His miraculous story brings to mind other people who have been the lone survivors of plane crashes. Cecelia Cichan was 4 years old when the plane she was on with her parents and brother crashed near Detroit in 1987. The Air India plane crash that killed all but one person on board has raised questions about how he survived – and whether others have been the only survivors in previous crashes. Vishwashkumar Ramesh was traveling to London with his brother Thursday when he was ejected from the Air India Boeing 787. He was able to walk to a nearby ambulance. Doctors said he's got multiple injuries to his body, but he seemed to be out of danger. As miraculous as his story is, he's not the only person to ever be the sole survivor of a plane crash. Several other people have been the lone survivors of plane crashes, including Cecelia Cichan, a 4-year-old girl who lived through a plane crash in Detroit in 1987. RELATED: Lone survivor: What we know about the only man to survive the Air India crash The backstory Cecelia Crocker — who was Cecelia Cichan at the time of the crash — was aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 255 when it crashed in the Detroit suburb of Romulus, killing 154 people on board, including her parents and brother. Two people also died on the ground. The Phoenix-bound plane was clearing the runway when it tilted and the left wing clipped a light pole before shearing the top off a rental car building. The McDonnell Douglas MD80 left a half-mile trail of bodies and wreckage along Middle Belt Road. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded the plane's crew failed to set the wing flaps properly for takeoff. The agency also said a cockpit warning system did not alert the crew to the problem. Dig deeper Firefighter John Thiede, one of the first responders to arrive on scene, said 4-year-old Cecelia was still strapped in her plane seat when she was found. RELATED: Lone survivor of Air India crash reportedly recalls "loud noise" after takeoff "There was a seat upside down, and we moved the chair and checked underneath the chair. When we looked, a hand was coming out from the chair that she was in," Thiede told CBS News. Crocker's family lived in Tempe, Ariz., but after the crash, she was raised in Alabama by her aunt and uncle who shielded her from the media. What they're saying: In a 2013 documentary, Cecelia said she thought about the crash every day and that she had scars on her arms, legs and forehead. She had also gotten an airplane tattoo on her wrist. "I got this tattoo as a reminder of where I've come from. I see it as — so many scars were put on my body against my will — and I decided to put this on my body for myself," she said in the film. At least three other people have been "sole survivors" of plane crashes. George Lamson Jr., then a 17-year-old from Plymouth, Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985. Lamson in a social media post Thursday said the news of a plane crash in India with only one survivor shook him. "There are no right words for moments like this, but I wanted to acknowledge it," he said. "These events don't just make headlines. They leave a lasting echo in the lives of those who've lived through something similar." The Source This report includes information from The Associated Press, Fox News, CBS News, and WJBK-TV's 1987 coverage of the crash.
