Ahmedabad plane crash: List of India's most devastating air tragedies
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A major aviation tragedy struck India on Thursday afternoon when a London-bound Air India flight crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.The aircraft, carrying 232 passengers and 10 crew members and 2 pilots, went down mere minutes after its take-off. Initial reports and videos showed the moment the plane exploded and thick plumes of smoke rising from the crash site, as emergency responders rushed to the scene.The cause of the crash is not yet confirmed, and authorities are still assessing the extent of casualties and damage.Tata Sons' Chairman N Chandrasekaran confirmed the crash, and said Air India was deploying support teams for affected families. Among those onboard the flight was former Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani.The crash is reminiscent of past air disasters that have left a deep imprint on India's aviation history. Here's a list of India's most devastating air tragedies.One of the most devastating incidents was the Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision on November 12, 1996. This accident, near Haryana's Charkhi Dadri, involved a Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 and a Kazakhstan Airlines Ilyushin Il-76. All 349 people on board both aircraft perished, making it the world's deadliest mid-air collision and the worst aviation disaster in Indian skies. The tragedy was attributed to a miscommunication that led the Kazakh aircraft to descend below its designated altitude, resulting in a fatal collision.On May 22, 2010, Air India Express Flight 812, flying from Dubai to Mangalore, crashed while landing at the Mangalore International Airport. The Boeing 737-800 overshot the runway—a tabletop strip surrounded by a steep drop—and plunged into a gorge. The crash resulted in the deaths of 158 of the 166 people on board. It remains one of the deadliest landing accidents in Indian aviation.Another catastrophe that haunts India's aviation memory is the bombing of Air India Flight 182 on June 23, 1985. The flight, travelling from Canada to India, exploded mid-air off the coast of Ireland due to a bomb planted by Sikh extremists. All 329 passengers and crew aboard were killed. It remains one of the deadliest acts of aviation terrorism globally and a grim reminder of the vulnerabilities faced by international airlines.In addition to these civilian disasters, India has witnessed numerous military aircraft crashes, particularly involving MiG-21 jets of the Indian Air Force. Over the years, several pilots have lost their lives in these accidents, often caused by technical malfunctions or during training missions. While these do not fall under civil aviation, they highlight long-standing concerns over aircraft maintenance and modernization within India's defence aviation sector.
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Hindustan Times
30 minutes ago
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Ahmedabad plane crash: Promised call from crew member to her father that never came
Mumbai, Before her flight to London, Air India crew member Maithili Patil had made a final, comforting promise to her father, Moreshwar Patil, that she would call him once she reached the city. But the call did not come. Patil, 23, is among 12 crew members of ill-fated Air India's Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft that crashed immediately after taking off from Ahmedabad airport on Thursday afternoon. A resident of Nhava village, Patil joined Air India two years ago and is the daughter of an ONGC labour contractor, former sarpanch of Nhava Jitendra Mhatre told PTI. Mhatre, who is also Patil's relative, recalled that she had called her father minutes before the tragedy, assuring him that she would call once she reached London. It is estimated that nine crew members, including the two pilots, were from Maharashtra. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft with 230 passengers and 12 crew members crashed into the complex of a medical college moments after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad on Thursday afternoon. One person survived the crash, while 241 on board were killed, of whom 12 were from Maharashtra, an official said. He said the aircraft's pilot, Captain Sumeet Pushkaraj Sabharwal , was a resident of Jal Vayu Vihar in the Powai area of Mumbai and lived with his elderly parents. The co-pilot of the flight, Clive Kunder, was a resident of the western suburbs of Mumbai, as per his social media account. Cabin crew member Deepak Pathak lived in Badlapur in neighbouring Thane district. Pathak's sister had earlier said he spoke to his mother before leaving for London. He had been working with Air India for 11 years, she said. Aparna Mahadik , another crew member, was a resident of Goregaon in the western suburbs, and her husband also works with Air India as a crew member. She was a relative of NCP leader Sunil Tatkare. Roshni Rajendra Songhare and Saineeta Chakravarti, both crew members, hailed from Dombivli and Juhu Koliwada, respectively. Songhare was also a travel influencer with more than 54,000 followers on Instagram. The victims also included Mahadev Pawar and his wife Asha , who hailed from Hatid village in Sangola of Solapur district. The Pawars had left Sangola and settled in Gujarat 15 years ago, and they were heading to London to visit their son. One of the passengers, Yasha Kamdar Modha , was the daughter of Nagpur businessman Manish Kamdar. She was travelling to London with her son Rudra and mother-in-law Rakshaben, and all three perished in the crash.
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Lone survivors: Air India 171 among 2 dozen disasters where one person beat the odds
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The Wire
34 minutes ago
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Ahmedabad Plane Crash an Accident; Official Death Toll Will Follow DNA Tests: Amit Shah
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'. The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
