Ahmedabad Plane Crash an Accident; Official Death Toll Will Follow DNA Tests: Amit Shah

The Wire

17 hours ago

Ahmedabad: Air India flight 171's fatal crash here on Thursday (June 12) was an accident, Union home minister Amit Shah has said, laying to rest speculation regarding the exact nature of the incident that is believed to have killed upwards of 241 people .
Shah also said that given the fact that the aircraft, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, was carrying 1.25 lakh litres of fuel, the chances that those on board would have survived were minimal.
However, he noted that prior to the press conference on Thursday evening he had met the sole survivor from among those on board the aircraft at the civil hospital in the city.
Bodies of the deceased will be handed over to their next-of-kin once DNA tests have been conducted, the minister said, adding that the official death toll would be declared afterwards.
There has been no official enumeration of the toll of the crash, which also includes people who were in an Ahmedabad medical college at the time the aircraft crashed into it.
In this image released by @CISFHQrs via X, remains of Air India flight 171 are seen lodged in a building on June 12, 2025. Photo: PTI.
En route to London's Gatwick Airport from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad, Air India flight 171 had hardly spent half a minute in the air before it crashed and exploded in the city's thickly populated Meghaninagar neighbourhood.
Air India confirmed early on Friday that 241 of the 242 people on board had died.
The one passenger who survived the crash is a 40-year-old Briton named Vishwas Ramesh . He is receiving treatment for his injuries at the civil hospital.
Apart from its two pilots and ten crew, the flight carried 169 Indian nationals, 53 British citizens, seven Portuguese citizens and one Canadian citizen.
The aircraft hit the state-run B.J. Medical College and Hospital, in whose hostel students were dining at the time of the crash. At least four students have been declared dead. Many others, including relatives of those living on campus, are believed to have suffered injuries.
Debris of an Air India flight 171 in Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025. Photo: PTI.
Speaking to the media, Shah, who had earlier inspected the site of the crash, said: 'I definitely want to say one thing: this is an accident. No one can stop accidents.'
The Gujarat government will conduct DNA tests on the deceased and testing facilities in the state are 'developed', he also said. The authorities will 'declare an official death toll only after DNA tests and passenger identification' are complete.
Boarding and lodging costs generated by family members of the deceased in Ahmedabad will be borne by the Gujarat government, Shah said.
He said the Union civil aviation ministry will probe the accident.
K. Ram Mohan Naidu, who is in charge of that ministry, announced late on Thursday that the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau had begun a formal investigation.
'Additionally, the government is constituting a high-level committee comprising experts from multiple disciplines to examine the matter in detail,' he wrote on X.
Relatives of a victim of the crash mourn their loss at a hospital in Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025. Photo: PTI.
While addressing the press in Ahmedabad on Thursday afternoon, Naidu said the government was 'not going to leave any stone unturned' as part of a 'fair and thorough investigation'.
The US and the UK will send teams to aid the bureau in its probe. Washington's National Transport Safety Board will send a team to India while Britain's Air Accidents Investigation Branch will have 'expert status' in the Indian safety investigation in light of British citizens being aboard flight 171, it said. Plus, it said it would despatch a 'multidisciplinary investigation team' to India.
Among those passengers in flight 171 who died was former Gujarat chief minister and BJP leader Vijay Rupani.
This is the first fatal accident involving a 787 Dreamliner. Flight 171's pilots had issued a mayday call to air traffic control in Ahmedabad before the aircraft crashed, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has reportedly said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose home state is Gujarat, condoled the incident, calling it 'heartbreaking beyond words'. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the incident was 'absolutely devastating'.
US President Donald Trump said he had let the Indian government know that if there's 'anything we can do, we'll be over there immediately'.
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