Urgent Cobra meeting on Air India plane disaster after 53 Brits including ‘sole survivor' among passengers
A COBRA meeting chaired by David Lammy was urgently held after the Air India plane crash today.
CCTV footage showed the doomed Boeing 787 taking off before crashing in a fireball while carrying 242 people.
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It appeared to lose power in Ahmedabad in the west of India.
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.
The plane was flying to London Gatwick airport and was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew - including 53 Brits.
A British man miraculously survived the crash after jumping off the flaming jet and was filmed walking away from the wreckage.
In a statement the airline said: "Flight AI171, operating Ahmedabad-London Gatwick was involved in an accident on 12 June 2025.
"At this moment, we are ascertaining the details and will share further updates at the earliest opportunity."
Out of the 242 on board, 169 were Indian travellers, one Canadian and seven Portuguese nationals alongside the Brits.
King Charles said he was "desperately shocked" by Thursday's air crash in India, sending "prayers and deepest possible sympathies" to the families of those affected.
Second-by-second breakdown of Air India jet disaster from mayday call to horror crash – all within a minute of takeoff
"My wife and I have been desperately shocked by the terrible events in Ahmedabad this morning," the monarch wrote on Instagram, calling it a "heartbreaking and traumatic time".
Brit couple Fiongal and Jamie Greenlaw-Meek are believed to have been the plane and had posted about their "magical experience" in India.
Also believed dead is a British family from Gloucester: Akeel Nanabawa, his wife Hannaa and their four-year-old daughter Sara.
Hours before the crash, the Greenlaw-Meeks - who run the Wellness Foundry, a spiritual wellness centre and yoga studio - posted on Instagram about their "mind-blowing" trip.
Fiongal said: "So it's our last night in India and we have had a magical experience really, there have been some quite mind-blowing things that have happened."
Jamie added: "We really have been on quite a journey, and then just spending the last night here in this amazing hotel, and we have just had the most delicious Tali food.
"It was a perfect way to round up the trip. Excited to share it all with you."
A final video showed the pair - who have been together since 2019 - sitting in the airport ahead of their 10-hour flight back to the UK.
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