Robert Macfarlane: Why shouldn't rivers have rights? Companies do
Robert Macfarlane has been thinking a lot about rivers. Sat under the huge limbs of one of his favourite trees, an oriental plane in Cambridge, he points to where the 'elbows' of its branches rest on the ground, drawing water from a nearby chalk stream.
Talking about his new book, Is a River Alive?, the renowned nature writer's conversation is punctuated with his sightings of the birdlife around us: blue tits, goldfinches, a jay making an odd noise. Few would argue they are not alive.
But in a mix of travelogue, nature-writing and philosophy encompassing journeys along waterways in Ecuador, India and Canada, he argues rivers are alive, too — and should have rights. The modern 'rights of nature' movement was arguably born in
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BreakingNews.ie
17 minutes ago
- BreakingNews.ie
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
The Independent
38 minutes ago
- The Independent
‘British national' survives Air India disaster that killed hundreds
An Air India plane en route to London crashed shortly after takeoff in Ahmedabad, India, killing over 200 people. A survivor, identified in reports as Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a British national living in London, was reportedly found at the crash site with minor injuries. According to the Hindustan Times, Mr Ramesh recounted a loud noise shortly after takeoff, followed by the crash, and described escaping the wreckage amidst bodies and debris. More than 204 bodies have been recovered from the crash site, with the total fatality count still unclear; 242 people were on board, including 169 Indians and 53 Britons. The plane, a Boeing 787, crashed into the Meghani Nagar residential area after issuing a mayday call, hitting a hostel building for doctors; both Indian and British prime ministers expressed their condolences.
The Sun
44 minutes ago
- The Sun
Air India crash LIVE: Brit couple including celeb wellness guru feared to be on doomed jet named after ‘goodbye' video
Full video shows plane crash 40 seconds after take-off Harrowing CCTV footage has now been released showing the Boeing 787 taking off before appearing to lose power. Video shows the plane taxing down the runway before taking off at around 1.38pm local time from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad. Footage shows the plane take to the sky - before it appears to stop climbing and then plummet back down to earth. The flight then crashed in a fireball into a doctor's hostel. Police are now hunting through the rubble and wreckage for any survivors. Watch the full video here.
