Air India plane crashes at India's Ahmedabad airport, source says
NEW DELHI: An Air India plane crashed at the airport in India's western city of Ahmedabad, television channels reported on Thursday (Jun 12), without specifying whether there were any fatalities.
The plane was headed to Birmingham, an aviation source told Reuters.
The crash occurred when the aircraft was taking off, the TV channels reported. Visuals showed debris on fire, with thick black smoke rising up into the sky near the airport.
There were 242 passengers on board the flight, Reuters reported news outlet ANI as saying, citing a police control room.
The plane crashed in a civilian area outside the airport in Ahmedabad, police said.
They also showed visuals of people being moved in stretchers and being taken away in ambulances.
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Independent Singapore
3 hours ago
- Independent Singapore
More than 240 killed in Air India crash, one survivor in hospital
More than 240 people were killed when an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner bound for London crashed minutes after takeoff from the western Indian city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat on Thursday (June 12), authorities said, in the world's worst airline disaster in a decade. The plane came down in a residential area, crashing into a medical college hostel during lunch hour. The airline confirmed that all but one of the 242 people on board had died. The sole survivor is being treated in a hospital, the carrier said. Ramesh Viswashkumar, 40, a British national who was in India for a few days to visit his family, told the Hindustan Times from his hospital bed: 'Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed'. 'It all happened so quickly,' he said. 'When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran.' Ramesh, who was assigned seat 11A near the emergency exit, is reported to have jumped from the plane. 'There were pieces of the plane all around me,' he added. 'Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital.' Ramesh, who suffered injuries on his chest, eyes and feet, spoke about his brother Ajay, who was seated in a different row on the plane. 'He was travelling with me and I can't find him anymore. Please help me find him,' he said. A top police officer said they were still verifying the number of dead, including those killed in the building where the plane crashed. Forty-one people were being treated in hospital, said the Ahmedabad police commissioner. See also Netherlands' Geert Wilders reminding Europeans of the 1930s? Another police officer revised down earlier reports of 294 dead, explaining some bodies had been double-counted. The official death toll will be announced after DNA verification, said Indian Home Minister Amit Shah. Parts of the plane's body were scattered around the building it hit. The aircraft's tail was stuck on top of the building. Flight AI171 to London's Gatwick airport was carrying 12 crew members and 230 passengers, most of whom were Indian and British nationals, The passengers on board included 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian, Air India said. Air India, previously a state-owned airline, was taken over by the Indian conglomerate Tata Group in 2022 and merged with Vistara — a joint venture between the group and Singapore Airlines — in 2024. Problems reported on aircraft A man claimed he flew from Delhi to Ahmedabad on the same aircraft hours before it crashed while taking off for London. Akash Vatsa, an entrepreneur, tweeted on X: 'I was in the same d*** flight 2 hours before it took off from AMD. I came in this from DEL-AMD. Noticed unusual things in the place. Made a video to tweet to @airindia. I would want to give more details.' Vatsa uploaded videos from inside the aircraft, highlighting problems with the air-conditioning and the in-flight entertainment system. 'We are almost about to taxi. But the AC is not working. Look at everyone. AC is not working at all. And as usual, the TV screens are not working,' he said in a video, reported Mint. Aviation tracking site Flightradar24 said the plane was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, one of the most modern passenger planes. It was the first crash for the Dreamliner, which began flying commercially in 2011, according to the Aviation Safety Network database. The Dreamliner that crashed flew for the first time in 2013 and was delivered to Air India in January 2014, Flightradar24 said. Television channels reported that the crash occurred just after the plane took off at 1.39 pm local time. Shortly after takeoff, the aircraft began a slow descent with its landing gear extended before exploding in a giant fireball, reported Bloomberg. The twin-engine plane had reached an altitude of 625 feet (190.5 metres) at a speed of 174 knots, or about 200 miles per hour, according to data from Flightradar24. The aircraft pilots issued a Mayday call immediately after take-off, according to India's civil aviation regulator, but did not respond to subsequent calls from air traffic controllers. The Dreamliner was being flown by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kundar, who had 8,200 flying hours and 1,100 flying hours of experience, respectively, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said. 'The tragedy in Ahmedabad has stunned and saddened us,' Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on X. 'It is heartbreaking beyond words.' Ahmedabad is the main city in Modi's home state of Gujarat. The airport is operated by India's Adani Group conglomerate. 'We are shocked and deeply saddened by the tragedy of Air India Flight 171,' Gautam Adani, founder and chairman of the group, posted on X. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the images of the crash were 'devastating' and added that he was being kept informed of the situation. A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said King Charles was also being kept updated. This is the worst airline crash since the Malaysian Airways MH17 in 2014, which was shot down over Ukraine, killing 298 people, according to Aviation Safety Network. Boeing shares fell 6% in early US trading. The company said it was 'working to gather more information' about the tragedy, reported Reuters. Boeing has been involved in several accidents in recent years, including two fatal crashes — Lion Air Flight 610 crashed on October 29, 2018, and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on March 10, 2019. Air India operates 34 Boeing 787 aircraft, according to data from aviation consultant Cirium. Most are more than 10 years old, the oldest nearly 14. In all, the airline has 192 Boeing and Airbus SE aircraft. In 2023, the Tatas placed a massive order for 470 planes to rejuvenate the fleet. The last fatal plane crash in India was in 2020 when a Boeing 737 belonging to Air India Express, the airline's low-cost subsidiary, overshot a runway at Kozhikode International Airport in southern India and plunged into a valley. Twenty-one people were killed in that crash. Air India's last major crash was in 1985 when Flight 182, a Boeing 747 aircraft, was destroyed by a bomb over the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 329 people on board. Featured image from Wikimedia Commons (for illustration purposes only).
AsiaOne
4 hours ago
- AsiaOne
Rescuers search for missing people, aircraft parts after Air India crash kills over 240, Asia News
AHMEDABAD, India — Rescue workers searched for missing people and aircraft parts on Friday (June 13) after an Air India plane crashed onto a medical college hostel in the city of Ahmedabad, killing more than 240 people in the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with 242 people on board, headed for Gatwick Airport south of London, had only one survivor after it crashed onto the hostel during lunch hour. There were deaths on the ground as well, with local media putting the toll as high as 24. Reuters could not immediately verify the number. Authorities said they were still searching for people missing on the ground. Rescue personnel continued their search through the night and early morning, hunting for missing aircraft parts amid the debris that could explain why the plane crashed soon after taking off. Local newspaper Hindustan Times reported that one of two black boxes from the plane had been found. Reuters could not verify the report and the paper did not say whether the flight data recorder or the cockpit voice recorder had been recovered. Residents living in the vicinity said that construction of the hostel for resident doctors was completed only a year ago and the buildings were not fully occupied. "We were at home and heard a massive sound, it appeared like a big blast. We then saw very dark smoke which engulfed the entire area," said 63-year-old Nitin Joshi, who has been living in the area for more than 50 years. CCTV footage showed the plane taking off over a residential area and then disappearing from the screen before a huge fireball could be seen rising into the sky from beyond the houses. Parts of the plane's fuselage were scattered around the smouldering building into which it crashed. The tail of the plane was stuck on top of the building. Air India said the lone survivor, a British national, was being treated in the hospital. The man told Indian media how he had heard a loud noise shortly after Flight AI171 took off. Vidhi Chaudhary, a top state police officer, said on Thursday the death toll was more than 240, revising down a previous toll of 294 as it included body parts that had been double counted. The dead included Vijay Rupani, the former chief minister of Gujarat state, of which Ahmedabad is the main city. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who hails from Gujarat, has visited the site and Air India Chief Executive Officer Campbell Wilson also arrived in the early hours of Friday. The company has said the investigation would take time. Planemaker Boeing has said a team of experts is ready to go to India to help in the probe. It was the first crash for the Dreamliner, a wide-body airliner that 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. The last fatal plane crash in India, the world's third-largest aviation market and its fastest growing, was in 2020 and involved Air India Express, the airline's low-cost arm. The formerly state-owned Air India was taken over by Indian conglomerate Tata Group in 2022, and merged with Vistara — a joint venture between the group and Singapore Airlines — in 2024. [[nid:719022]]
Straits Times
5 hours ago
- Straits Times
‘Unimaginable': Families mourn dead in Air India crash
Family members and friends mourning as at least 265 passengers were killed in the June 12 Air India crash. PHOTO: AFP Follow our live coverage here. AHMEDABAD, India – In an echoing hall in India's Ahmedabad, mourning families gave DNA samples on June 13 to identify relatives missing after a London-bound passenger jet crashed in a residential area. At least 265 people onboard and on the ground were killed when the Air India 787-8 Dreamliner smashed into a residential area soon after takeoff on June 12. Just one passenger miraculously survived the giant fireball. Mr Ashfaque Nanabawa, 40, said he had come to find his cousin Akeel Nanabawa, who had been onboard with his wife and three-year-old daughter. He said they had spoken as his cousin sat in the plane just before takeoff. 'He called us and he said, 'I am in the plane and I have boarded safely and everything was okay'. That was his last call.' Mr Nanabawa, speaking in the early hours of the morning of June 13, said he and his family had given DNA samples, but had yet to 'identify any of the bodies'. 'Heartbreaking' Indian police said at least 265 bodies had been recovered from the smouldering crash site – both from the wreckage of the plane and the medical staff accommodation which the burning jet crashed into. The toll may rise further as more bodies are located. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called the crash 'heartbreaking beyond words'. Home Minister Amit Shah, who visited the crash site and those injured in hospital on the evening of June 12, said forensic laboratories would 'complete the DNA testing in the shortest possible time'. Mr Shah said the final official toll would 'be declared only after DNA testing is completed'. On a raised platform, a dozen exhausted doctors worked to collect samples for the grim task of trying to identify bodies. 'We have taken samples of babies and those above 80 years old. I don't have words to explain this,' said a doctor, on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media. Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese, and a Canadian on the flight bound for London's Gatwick airport, as well as 12 crew members, making 242 onboard. Only one – a British national – is confirmed to have survived. At least 24 people also died on the ground when the jet hit residential buildings. 'As doctors, you're always prepared for the worst, right?' the medic said. 'But this is just overwhelming. Families are crying, looking for answers.' Above, the sounds of planes echoed, with the hall close to another airport. 'One person came to give the child, wife and mother were on the flight,' the doctor added. 'What do I even say?' One woman, too grief-stricken to 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?' 'Unimaginable' Friends also arrived in a desperate search for news. Mr Premal Mehta, 39, from Ahmedabad, said he did not want to believe that his friend Mahesh Jeerawala had been killed. 'I am using everything in my power – political contacts, whatever it is – to find him,' Mr Mehta said in desperation as he supported his friend's brother, who was providing a DNA sample. Others had flown in seeking news, or to identify the dead. Mr Ismail Sheikh said he had celebrated only days before with his friend, a London resident who had returned to see family in India. His friend was onboard with his wife and two children. Mr Sheikh recalled taking his friend to the airport 15 years ago, when he moved to London with high hopes for the future. 'Now I am here,' Mr Sheikh said, his eyes wet with tears. 'This is unimaginable'. AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
