Plane Crash: First visuals from Air India flight crash site in Ahmedabad; rescue operation underway
Plane crash: An Air India plane bound for London crashed in a locality near Ahmedabad airport Thursday afternoon, soon after taking off, police said. Casualties are feared, though there is no confirmation on the same yet.
'Flight AI171, operating Ahmedabad-London Gatwick, was involved in an incident today, 12 June 2025. At this moment, we are ascertaining the details and will share further updates at the earliest on http://airindia.com and on our X handle,' Air India posted on X.
Soon after the Air India plane crashed, thick smoke billowed from the site in Gujarat's Ahmedabad.
Fire tenders were rushed to the scene to douse the blaze, said fire officer Jayesh Khadia. An official told PTI that several injured persons were taken to the city civil hospital.
Emergency responders reached the site promptly and have launched intensive rescue, evacuation, and firefighting operations.
A DGCA source informed ANI that on 12 June 2025, an Air India Boeing 787 aircraft (VT-ANB), operating flight AI-171 from Ahmedabad to Gatwick, had crashed shortly after takeoff. The aircraft had 242 people on board, including two pilots and ten cabin crew members. It was under the command of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, a Line Training Captain with 8,200 hours of flying experience, while the co-pilot, First Officer Clive Kundar, had 1,100 flying hours.
According to Air Traffic Control, the plane departed from runway 23 at 1:39 PM IST (08:09 UTC) and issued a MAYDAY call soon after takeoff. However, the aircraft did not respond to any further ATC communication. The plane reportedly crashed just outside the airport perimeter, and thick black smoke was seen billowing from the crash site, the source told ANI.
Three Natural Disaster Response Force teams, comprising 90 personnel, have been moved from Gandhinagar to Ahmedabad. Three teams from Vadodara are also moving to Ahmedabad.
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