More than 200 killed as Air India plane crashes after take-off
More than 200 people were killed when an Air India plane bound for London with 242 people on board crashed minutes after taking off fromthe western city of Ahmedabad on Thursday, authorities said, in the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade.
The plane came down in a residential area, crashing on to a medical college hostel outside the airport during lunch hour. It was headed for Gatwick Airport.
Advertisement
There were no reports of survivors being found, and the Indian Express newspaper said all 242 on board had perished, citing police.
Malik said the bodies recovered could include both passengers and people killed on the ground.
Relatives had been asked to give DNA samples to identify the dead, state health secretary Dhananjay Dwivedi said.
"The building on which it has crashed is a doctors' hostel... we have cleared almost 70% to 80% of the area and will clear the rest soon," a senior police officer told reporters.
Advertisement
The passengers included 217 adults, 11 children and two infants, a source told Reuters. Of them, 169 were Indian nationals, 53 were Britons, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian, Air India said.
Aviation tracking site Flightradar24 said the plane was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, one of the most modern passenger aircraft in service.
It was the first crash for the Dreamliner, which began flying commercially in 2011, according to the Aviation Safety Network database. The plane that crashed on Thursday flew for the first time in 2013 and was delivered to Air India in January 2014, Flightradar24 said.
Ahmedabad's Police Commissioner in India has told The Associated Press that there appear to be no survivors from the Air India Airliner that crashed shortly after takeoff in India.
Advertisement
'It appears there are no survivors in the plane crash,' Commissioner G.S. Malik said.
He added that with the plane crashing in a residential area with offices, 'some locals would have also died.'
Rescue officials work at the site where Air India flight 171 crashed in a residential area near the airport in Ahmedabad on June 12th, 2025.(Photo by Sam Panthaky / AFP)
Media briefing
The plane bound for Gatwick airport in London crashed shortly after takeoff from India's western city of Ahmedabad shortly after 9am IST.
A spokesperson for India's external affairs ministry said, 'we have lost a lot of people'.
Advertisement
Randhir Jaiswal told a media briefing: 'What has happened in Ahmedabad is a very tragic accident. We have lost a lot of people.
'We extend our deepest condolences to all those who have lost their loved ones.
'There are, I understand, several foreigners also.'
The airline's chairman, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, described the incident as a 'tragic accident' and a 'devastating event' and said emergency response teams were at the site.
Advertisement
A video of the crash, obtained by local media, showed the aircraft fly over a residential area before crashing, creating what appeared to be a large explosion.
"The building on which it has crashed is a doctors' hostel... we have cleared almost 70 per cent to 80 per cent of the area and will clear the rest soon," a senior police officer told reporters.
India's CNN News-18 TV channels said the plane crashed on top of the dining area of state-run B.J. Medical College hostel, killing many medical students as well. It showed a visual of a portion of the aircraft perched atop the building.
Rescue workers said earlier that at least 30 to 35 bodies had been recovered from the site and that more people were trapped.
More people were trapped inside, the rescue workers said.
Air India said the flight was departing from Ahmedabad airport with 242 people onboard the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
The airline said 169 passengers are Indian nationals, 53 are British, one is Canadian, and seven are Portuguese.
The Reuters news agency reported that 217 adults and 11 children were on board the flight.
In a statement, Mr Chandrasekaran said: 'With profound sorrow I confirm that Air India Flight 171 operating Ahmedabad London Gatwick was involved in a tragic accident today.
'Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the families and loved ones of all those affected by this devastating event.
'At this moment, our primary focus is on supporting all the affected people and their families.
'We are doing everything in our power to assist the emergency response teams at the site and to provide all necessary support and care to those impacted.'
He added: 'An emergency centre has been activated and a support team have been set up for families seeking information.'
Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, director general of India's directorate of civil aviation, told the Associated Press the crash happened in the Meghani Nagar area at 1.38pm local time (9.08am BST).
Mr Kidwai said there were 232 passengers and 12 crew members onboard.
It is the first crash involving a Boeing 787 aircraft, according to the Aviation Safety Network database.
Firefighters work at the site of the airplane that crashed in India's northwestern city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat state. Photo: AP
Crashed 'seconds after take off'
Flight tracking website Flightradar24 posted on social media platform X: 'We are following reports of a crash of Air India flight #AI171 from Ahmedabad to London.
'We received the last signal from the aircraft at 08:08:51 UTC (shortly before 9.09am BST), just seconds after take off.
'The aircraft involved is a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with registration VT-ANB.'
It added that the signal from the aircraft was lost 'less than a minute after take off'.
According to air traffic control at Ahmedabad Airport, the aircraft departed at 1.39 p.m. (0809 GMT) from runway 23. It gave a "Mayday" call, signalling an emergency, but thereafter there was no response from the aircraft.
One television channel showed the plane taking off over a residential area and then disappearing from the screen before a huge jet of fire can be seen rising into the sky from beyond the houses.
Visuals also showed debris on fire, with thick black smoke rising up into the sky near the airport.
They also showed people being moved in stretchers and being taken away in ambulances.
"My sister-in-law was going to London. Within an hour, I got news that the plane had crashed," Poonam Patel, a relative of one of the passengers, told news agency ANI at the government hospital in Ahmedabad.
Ramila, the mother of a student at the medical college, told ANI her son had gone to the hostel for his lunch break when the plane crashed. "My son is safe, and I have spoken to him. He jumped from the second floor, so he suffered some injuries," she said.
A man has described 'many bodies lying on the ground' after a Gatwick-bound plane crashed shortly after departing from Ahmedabad Airport.
He wore a surgical mask during the translated interview that aired on BBC News.
Smoke appeared to billow behind him and people in military uniform and masks could be seen walking around.
The man, who was not named, told the reporter: 'I was sitting at home, there was a loud noise, it felt like an earthquake.
'I came out and saw smoke, I didn't realise it was a plane crash, then I came here and I found out and I saw the crashed plane – there were many bodies lying on the ground.'
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the crash involving an Air India plane bound for Gatwick was 'heartbreaking beyond words'.
British Minister Keir Starmer said, 'The scenes emerging of a London-bound plane carrying many British nationals crashing in the Indian city of Ahmedabad are devastating', adding he was being kept updated as the situation develops.
Air India was acquired by the Tata Group from the Indian government in January 2022 after racking up billions of pounds of losses.
Boeing 787 Dreamliner
The first flight of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft involved in the crash was in December 2013.
The plane was delivered to Air India during the following month.
No Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft had crashed until the Ahmedabad incident.
The aircraft type, which entered service in 2011, is described by the US manufacturer as 'the bestselling passenger widebody of all time' with more than 2,000 orders from 89 customers.
The planes have carried more than one billion passengers on nearly five million flights.
Air India has 34 of the aircraft in its fleet, according to aviation analysts Cirium.
The jet is flown by a number of other airlines, such as British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Tui Airways.
It increases fuel efficiency by up to 25 per cent compared with the planes it replaces, largely because of modern engines, using lightweight materials and improved aerodynamics.
Recent concerns over the safety of Boeing aircraft have generally related to its 737 Max aircraft.
A Boeing 787 Dreamliner operated by Ethiopian Airlines caught fire while parked at Heathrow airport with no passengers onboard in 2013.
An investigation found the fire was probably caused by a short circuit.
Meanwhile, shares in Boeing tumbled in pre-market trading on Thursday following the plane crash.
The US-based airplane manufacturer, which has been blighted by safety issues in recent years, saw shares drop as much as 8 per cent.
Additional reporting by Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
17 minutes ago
- The Guardian
One of two black boxes recovered from Air India wreckage, police sources say
Recovery teams have found one of two black boxes from the wreckage of Thursday's Air India crash in Ahmedabad, police sources said, as others have continued the grim task of identifying the 241 passengers and unconfirmed numbers of people on the ground who died. As grieving families queued at a hospital in the northern Indian city to give DNA samples in the hope of identifying their loved ones, teams continued searching the wreckage of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft and the buildings into which it crashed, including a staff hostel at a nearby hospital. All but one of the 242 passengers on board the London-bound flight were killed when it ploughed into a residential district shortly after takeoff on Thursday and exploded. Kanan Desai, the deputy commissioner of police in the city, said 265 bodies had so far been counted, suggesting at least 24 people died on the ground. In emotional scenes, family members gathered at an emergency centre in the hope of retrieving their loved ones' remains. Ashfaque Nanabawa, 40, said he was searching for his cousin Akeel Nanabawa, and his cousin's wife and three-year-old daughter, who had been onboard. They had spoken as his cousin on the plane just before takeoff, he said. 'He called us and he said: 'I am in the plane and I have boarded safely and everything was OK'. That was his last call.' Another woman, who did not give her name, said her son-in-law had been killed. 'My daughter doesn't know that he's no more,' she said, wiping away tears. 'I can't break the news to her, can someone else do that please?' Others hunted for people who had been in the damaged buildings. Thakur Ravi, who worked in the kitchen at the BJ Medical College hostel, was searching for his mother, a cook, and his two-year-old daughter, who he had left in her care. The last time he saw them was before he set off to deliver lunch boxes to senior doctors at the hospital, about half an hour before the crash, he said. 'All the other ladies who cook food at the hostel managed to escape, but my mother and daughter got left inside. I have searched everywhere but have not found them,' he said. The plane, which was bound for London Gatwick, was carrying 169 Indians, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian, whose the identities have been emerging as their families have confirmed their loss. Among the Britons was Dr Prateek Joshi, a hospital radiologist based in Derby, his wife, Komi Vyas, also a medic, and their three children. They had shared a beaming selfie moments before takeoff as they sat on the plane. The outlet NDTV said Vyas had recently left her job at a hospital in Udaipur to take the family to join her husband in the UK. Akeel Nanabawa, a businessman based in Gloucester, also died, along with his wife, Hannaa Vorajee, and their four-year-old daughter, Sara. In a statement, their family said they were 'widely loved and deeply respected. His quiet generosity, her warmth and kindness and their daughter's bright, joyful spirit made a lasting impact on everyone who knew them. She was a ray of sunshine in her school and they were a pillar of strength in our lives.' A British man, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who miraculously walked from the wreckage with minor injuries, has described the horror of watching people 'dying in front of my eyes'. Speaking on Friday from a hospital bed where he is recovering from burns, Ramesh, 40, told the local broadcaster DD News that before the moment of impact the plane had seemed to be 'stuck' in the air. 'When the flight took off, within five to 10 seconds it felt like it was stuck in the air. Suddenly, the lights started flickering – green and white. The aircraft wasn't gaining altitude and was just gliding before it suddenly slammed into a building and exploded.' Ramesh, who was sitting in seat 11A, next to one of the emergency exits, had thought he was dead, he said. 'Later, I realised I was still alive and saw an opening in the fuselage. I managed to unbuckle myself, used my leg to push through that opening, and crawled out.' He added: 'I don't know how I survived. I saw people dying in front of my eyes – the air hostesses, and two people I saw near me.' He was visited in hospital on Friday by India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, who also toured the site of the crash and was briefed by officials. 'The scene of devastation is saddening,' Modi said in a post on X. 'Our thoughts remain with those who lost their loved ones in this unimaginable tragedy.' India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is leading the inquiry into the cause of the crash, helped by teams from the US and UK. Boeing's chief executive, Kelly Ortberg, said the company was supporting the investigation. 'Safety is foundational to our industry and is at the core of everything that we do. Our technical experts are prepared to assist investigators to understand the circumstances, and a Boeing team stands ready to travel to India,' he said. Tata Group, Air India's owner, offered 10 million rupees ($117,000) to 'the families of each person who has lost their life in this tragedy', as well as promising to cover medical expenses of those injured.
Daily Mail
18 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
British survivor of Air India plane crash gives his most shocking account of the disaster: 'Air hostesses died before my eyes... we crashed into the building at full speed. I thought I was going to die'
The sole survivor of yesterday's deadly Air India plane crash has shared his shocking account of the disaster and described how he 'jumped out' after the jet smashed into the ground. Briton Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, miraculously survived the plane disaster, which killed all but one of the 242 passengers and crew on-board. Mr Ramesh, who lives in London with his wife and child, is being treated at a hospital in the northwestern city of Ahmedabad, where he told doctors that immediately after the plane took off, it began descending and suddenly split in two. Dr. Dhaval Gameti, who examined Mr Ramesh, told the Associated Press that he was disoriented with 'multiple injuries all over his body', but that he 'seems to be out of danger.' Speaking to Indian broadcaster Doordarshan, Mr Ramesh recounted his horrific ordeal, and spoke of how he witnessed two air hostesses die 'in front of my eyes'. 'I don't know how I came out of it alive', he said from his hospital bed. 'For a while, I thought I was about to die. But when I opened my eyes, I saw I was alive. And I opened my seatbelt and got out of there.' His seat was placed right next to the emergency door, which he says came off when the plane hit the ground. 'The side where I was seated fell into the ground floor of the building,' Mr Ramesh recounted. 'There was some space. When the door broke, I saw that space and I just jumped out.' 'The door must've broken on impact,' he said. 'There was a wall on the opposite side, but near me, it was open. I ran. I don't know how.' When the plane hit the ground yesterday, seat 11A, where Mr Ramesh was sat, collapsed into the ground floor of the building, instead of the upper levels where the jet's main body was badly destroyed. Mr Ramesh also described how just moments after take off, it 'felt like the plane had got stuck.' He recalled how the pilots tried to raise the jet, but it 'went full speed and crashed into the building'. Mr Ramesh explained how the plane quickly caught fire following the crash, and said he burned his arm. Astonishing footage taken near the crash site yesterday showed Mr Ramesh with visible injuries hobbling away from the jet before he was rushed to hospital for treatment. Mr Ramesh, whose brother was also on the flight and is presumed dead, described yesterday how he heard a 'a loud noise' before the plane crashed. 'When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. '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.' India's prime minister met the plane crash survivor on Friday, as well as those who were injured on the ground. Photos show PM Narendra Modi leaning over an injured Mr Ramesh who is lying in a hospital bed as the pair have a conversation. India's leader was also pictured visiting the site of the crash. 'We are all devastated by the air tragedy in Ahmedabad. The loss of so many lives in such a sudden and heartbreaking manner is beyond words,' Modi said on social media after his visit. 'We understand their pain and also know that the void left behind will be felt for years to come.' The Indian government has launched an investigation into the fatal crash of the London-bound plane that came down in a residential area of Ahmedabad. Officials said most of the bodies were charred beyond recognition. There was no news early Friday on the cause of the crash, or on efforts to retrieve the black boxes - the flight data and cockpit voice recorders - as authorities continued to search the crash site. The plane hit a building housing medical students and burst into flames, killing several college students on the ground. Shocking images and videos showed how black smoke billowed from the site where the plane crashed near the airport in Ahmedabad, a city of more than five million and the capital of Gujarat. India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has initiated a probe into the disaster in line with global protocols set by the International Civil Aviation Organization, said Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu in a statement on social media. A team from the United States is expected to arrive in India to help. The National Transportation Safety Board, Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing and General Electric are all sending experts. Medics are conducting DNA tests to identify those killed, the national president of the Federation of All India Medical Association, Akshay Dongardiv, said. Meanwhile, grieving families gathered outside the Civil hospital in Ahmedabad on Friday.
The Independent
19 minutes ago
- The Independent
Sole survivor of Air India crash recounts final moments of doomed flight
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the sole survivor of the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, has described the horror of watching people die and recounted his escape from the wreckage. Mr Ramesh, a British national, reported that the plane felt "stuck in the air" shortly after takeoff, followed by green and white flickering lights and a sudden crash into a building. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, bound for Gatwick, crashed into a medical college, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and at least five medical students. Mr Ramesh said he thought he was dead at first, then saw a gap in the fuselage: 'I managed to unbuckle myself, used my leg to push through that opening, and crawled out.' Investigations are ongoing into the cause of the crash. Experts suggest possible engine failure or incorrect flap settings.
