BREAKING NEWS Canadian husband reveals dentist wife was among those killed in Air India disaster
A Canadian man revealed his dentist wife as one of the victims of the Air India crash on Thursday.
Nirali Patel was identified as the lone Canadian national on board the London-bound flight, reported CTV News.
Her husband told The Canadian Press that he was in the process of booking a flight for himself and their one-year-old child to India.
Patel, who lived in Etobicoke, worked at a dental clinic in Mississauga. She got her dental degree in India in 2016 and received her license in Canada in 2019, according to the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario.
The Gatwick-bound plane carrying 242 passengers, including 53 British nationals, crashed just moments after take-off from Ahmedabad Airport in the northwestern Indian state of Gujarat.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner careened back down to earth in the densely populated Meghani area of the city just minutes after leaving the runway
Terrifying CCTV footage shows the plane appear to lose control before it starts rapidly descending with a high nose angle and landing gear deployed.
All but one person aboard Air India Flight 171 are feared to have died in the tragedy.
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BBC News
24 minutes ago
- BBC News
Leicester family's anguished wait for news after Air India crash
A family from Leicester say they are waiting for news about a loved one who was thought to have been on a plane that crashed in than 240 people were killed on Thursday when a Boeing 787 bound for Gatwick crashed shortly after take off in Rafik, 25, from the Belgrave area of the city, was believed to have been on the flight after visiting India for a week to celebrate Eid with his brother Farhan Rafik, 22, said the family was still hoping to receive a call from him. Farhan said: "We are all hoping he will come back, we are still hoping that from somewhere he will pick up our call and say 'I am alive and I am safe', but we are still waiting for that call." The 22-year-old from Leicester said he and Faizan were "always together" and added people would "feel great" in his company. He added Faizan dedicated time to charity work and was "respectful" of were 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian on the flight when it Ramesh, also from Leicester, was the sole survivor and escaped the wreckage through an opening in the fuselage. Live coverage of the crash aftermathMessages deliver, bodies missing: Clinging to hope after Air India crashWhat we know so far about Air India flight AI171?What could have caused Air India plane to crash in 30 seconds? Leicester Council of Faiths said it was "shocked" and "saddened" by the plane crash.A spokesperson said: "With reports of casualties from the local area and the sole survivor from Leicester, and with Leicester's diverse communities having deep connections to India, this tragedy has affected many here."We stand together in grief and in mourning for those who have lost their lives."
Daily Mail
42 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Terrifying video reveals Boeing workers' fears over 'shoddy' 787 jets at plant where doomed Air India Dreamliner was built
A frightening video shows ten Boeing engineers admit they would not fly on the 787 Dreamliner jets they were building like the Air India plane that crashed Thursday. Workers at the South Carolina plant alleged the Dreamliners were being built by 'underskilled' and 'uncaring' factory workers who were in 'some cases on drugs'. One whistleblower claimed '90 percent' of the problems reported on the 787 plane were 'getting swept away' and 'hushed up'. The 2014 footage, which was first published by Al Jazeera last year, has resurfaced in wake of the tragic Air India plane crash that killed at least 265 people on Thursday. It was shot in the same plant where the ill-fated Air India plane was constructed. That Dreamliner flew for the first time in 2013 and left the plant in January 2014 bound for the Asian airline. The London -bound 787 Dreamliner began losing height moments after take-off and crashed in a fireball over a residential area in the Ahmedabad. Only one of the 242 people on board survived and as many as 24 people on the ground were also killed in what was the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade. The plane that crashed on Thursday flew for the first time in 2013 and was delivered to Air India in January 2014 - the same year the secret factory video was recorded. It remains unclear what caused Thursday's tragedy, with mechanical failure or pilot error among the possible causes that investigators will now work to identify. An undercover employee approached 15 workers at random and asked one simple question: 'Would you fly on one of these planes?' A Boeing 787 Dreamliner began losing height moments after take-off and crashed in a fireball over a residential area in the Ahmedabad The plane that crashed on Thursday (pictured) flew for the first time in 2013 and was delivered to Air India in January 2014 - the same year the secret factory video was recorded Five employees said they would travel on the 787 Dreamliner, but most revealed they had little faith in the aircraft they were building. 'I wouldn't fly on one of these planes,' one worker said, the video revealed. 'Because I see the quality of the f***ing s*** going down around here.' But more concerning were the workers' allegations that their colleagues were looking for and doing drugs while on the clock. 'It's all coke and painkillers and, what's the other one?' a worker said. Another replied: 'You can get weed here. You can get some really good weed here. They don't drug test nobody. 'There's people that go out there on lunch and smoke one up.' Thursday's crash was the first involving a Dreamliner since the wide-body jet began flying commercially in 2011, according to the Aviation Safety Network database. But Boeing's safety and quality control has been under scrutiny for years after a series of incidents and crashes involving the company's other fleets. Boeing was deemed responsible for three high-profile accidents involving its 737 MAX narrow-body planes in recent years, including two fatal crashes. Just six days ago the plane maker reached a $1.1billion deal with the Justice Department to avoid prosecution over crashes involving a 737 Max plane that killed 346 people in Ethiopia and Indonesia in 2018 and 2019 respectively. Both disasters were later traced to faulty flight control systems, leading to the worldwide grounding of the 737 Max fleet for nearly two years. The 737 is a design dating back to the 1960s, with the Max crashes blamed on huge new engines bolted onto the middle-aged air frame design to boost the planes' range and capacity. Computer systems designed to counterbalance the Max's unwieldy proportions were initially too complicated to use and ultimately led to the Ethiopian and Indonesian crashes, investigators ruled. Boeing's reputation was further damaged in January 2024 when a door plug blew off another new 737 Max, shortly after the plane operated by Air Alaska took of from Portland Airport. No-one was injured or killed, but investigators say that if someone had been sitting in the empty seat next to the door plug and had their seatbelt off, tragedy may well have ensued. The incident led to the departure of then-CEO Dave Calhoun, as well as head of commercial planes and its board chair. The Air India plane that crashed in the city of Ahmedabad was more than a decade old. It first flew in late 2013 and was delivered to Air India in January 2014. Since then, it accumulated more than 41,000 flight hours, including 420 hours during 58 flights in May and 165 hours during 21 flights in June, according to aviation data analytics firm Cirium and flight tracking website FlightRadar24. That length of service means the crash may not have been caused by a lapse in Boeing's standards. Poor maintenance performed by Air India mechanics, pilot error or even external factors like a bird strike may have been to blame. There is also a chance that the plane may have fallen victim to an act of foul play, with anti-terrorism investigators conducting a probe into the crash too. Indestructible 'black box' recorders have already been recovered from the wreckage and should provide data that enables investigators to determine the cause of the crash in the coming months. Before the crash, airline executives had voiced greater confidence in Boeing's rebound in deliveries and in Ortberg's leadership after years of reputational damage for the plane maker. The public has not yet caught on, however. Last month, the Axios Harris poll of 100 recognizable corporate brands by reputation put Boeing at 88th, same as in 2024. The wide-body 787 planes have had a strong safety record. They were grounded in 2013 due to battery issues, but no one was reported injured. Boeing shares were down 5 percent on Thursday after the Air India crash and shares of Spirit AeroSystems, a key supplier, and GE Aerospace, which makes engines for the jet, also fell about 2 percent each. Boeing's outstanding debt also sold off modestly after the crash. The investigation into the Air India plane crash is focusing on the engine, flaps and landing gear, a source told Reuters on Friday, as the aviation regulator ordered safety checks on the airline's entire Boeing-787 fleet. Air India and the Indian government are looking at several aspects of the crash including issues linked to its engine thrust, flaps, and why the landing gear remained open as the plane took off and then came down within moments, the source said. The probe is also looking at whether Air India was at fault, including on maintenance issues, the insider added. A possible bird-hit is not among the key areas of focus, the source said, adding that teams of anti-terror experts were part of the investigation process. The government is considering whether it should ground the Boeing-787 fleet in the country during the probe, the source said. Air India has more than 30 Dreamliners that include the Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 versions. A source in Air India told Reuters there had been no communication so far from the government on the possible grounding. Separately, India's aviation regulator ordered Air India to conduct additional maintenance actions on its Boeing 787-8/9 aircraft equipped with GEnx engines, including 'one-time check' of the take-off parameters before the departure of every flight from midnight of June 15. The airline has also been instructed to introduce 'flight control inspection' - checks to ensure control systems are working properly - in transit inspection, and to conduct power assurance checks, meant to verify the engine's ability to produce the required power, within two weeks. The aviation ministry said that investigators and rescue workers had recovered the digital flight data recorder - one of the two black boxes on the plane - from the rooftop of the building on which the jet crashed. There was no information on the cockpit voice recorder, the other black box, which is also crucial to the crash probe. Earlier on Friday, rescue workers had finished combing the crash site and were searching for missing people and bodies in the buildings as well as for aircraft parts that could help explain why the plane crashed soon after taking off. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefed by officials on the progress of rescue operations when he visited the crash site in his home state of Gujarat on Friday. Modi also met some of the injured being treated in hospital. 'The scene of devastation is saddening,' he said in a post on X.
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
Air India plane crash: Families in Ahmedabad endure agonising wait for victims' bodies
Families just want the bodies of their loved ones. They have gathered in the scorching summer heat outside the morgue in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and crane their necks to get a glimpse of the next stretcher carrying a body bag to a waiting ambulance. The process for identifying bodies after the Air India plane crash is painstaking and some have been burnt beyond recognition. All but one of the 242 people on board the Boeing 787 Dreamliner died. 0:56 DNA samples are being matched with relatives, but patience is running thin. The wait for Lila Behan is agonising. She wails and cries, longing to see her grandson Akash one last time. She tells Sky News that he was outside when the aircraft crashed into their quarters. There was fire all around, her daughter-in-law Sita ran towards the flames and got severely burned. She's fighting for her life in the hospital's intensive care unit. "I can't even see my child's face now, they said he's so severely burnt. But I just want to see him for one last time," she says. Anand Thanki lost three members of his extended family, including an infant. All were British nationals from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. His sister-in-law Raxa had travelled to India with her daughter-in-law Yasha and infant grandson Rudra for a religious ceremony. Raxa lost her husband to cancer two months ago and this was a ritual she needed to perform. Anand tells Sky News: "It's a big loss, but what can we do? We can only blame our fate, it's probably written for us. "Worst was for my nephew who had dropped them at the airport, returned home and heard the news of the incident." India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited the crash site and assessed the situation. He knows the city well, it's personal for him. He has been a legislator for over a decade and previously served as the chief minister of the state of Gujarat. At the crash site, he walked around debris and the block of flats which were in the flight path of the plane. The aircraft began losing altitude and within minutes of take-off, it plummeted to the ground, erupting in a fireball. At the hospital, Mr Modi met Vishwash Kumar Ramesh - the only person to escape the aircraft. He spoke of his miraculous escape. 0:58 The scale of the tragedy has been compounded by its location. The plane came down right in the heart of a built-up neighbourhood, with the front of the aircraft crashing into residential quarters for medical students. The wheels and tail of the plane are embedded in the top floor of one of the buildings, where many had gathered for lunch in a dining hall. Plates are still on tables - evidence that residents were eating when the aircraft tore through. There were at least 23 victims on the ground, including students, doctors and family members. Some are in a critical condition. 2:00 The cause of the crash remains unknown. Investigators will now begin the long and complex process of establishing what went wrong. But many families will grapple with the unimaginable loss after one of the worst disasters in India's aviation history.
