At least 30 killed as Air India plane with 242 on board crashes near Ahmedabad
By
Sumit Khanna
Summary
Flight was bound for London's Gatwick Airport
Police say plane crashed on doctors' hostel
30-35 bodies recovered from building
Plane was Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner
AHMEDABAD, India- At least 30 people were killed when an Air India plane bound for London with 242 people on board
crashed minutes after taking off from
India's western city of Ahmedabad on Thursday, with the toll expected to climb, authorities said.
The plane was headed for Gatwick Airport, south of the British capital, Air India said, while police officers said it crashed in a residential area near the airport.
'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.
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 that at least 30 to 35 bodies had been recovered from the site and that more people were trapped.
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.
'At this moment, we are ascertaining the details and will share further updates,' Air India said on X. 'The injured are being taken to the nearest hospitals.'
CRASH JUST AFTER TAKE-OFF
The crash occurred just after the plane took off, television channels reported. One 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.
Item 1 of 16 Emergency personnel and other people gather near damaged property, at the site where an Air India plane crashed, in Ahmedabad, India, June 12, 2025. CENTRAL INDUSTRIAL SECURITY FORCE VIA X/Handout via REUTERS
[1/16]Emergency personnel and other people gather near damaged property, at the site where an Air India plane crashed, in Ahmedabad, India, June 12, 2025. CENTRAL INDUSTRIAL SECURITY FORCE VIA X/Handout via REUTERS
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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.
Flightradar24 also said that it received the last signal from the aircraft seconds after it took off.
Boeing said it was aware of initial reports and was working to gather more information. Boeing
shares fell 6.8% to $199.13 in pre-market trade.
Britain was working with Indian authorities to urgently establish the facts around the crash and to provide support to those involved, the country's foreign office said in a statement posted on its website.
'The tragedy in Ahmedabad has stunned and saddened us,' Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on X. 'It is heartbreaking beyond words.'
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said images emerging of the crash were 'devastating', and that he was being kept informed as the situation developed. A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said King Charles was also being kept updated.
MODI'S HOME STATE
The Indian aviation minister's office said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had directed it to ensure all support was extended to the rescue efforts immediately.
Ahmedabad is the main city in Modi's home state of Gujarat.
Ahmedabad Airport said it had suspended all flight operations with immediate effect. The airport is operated by India's Adani Group conglomerate.
'We are shocked and deeply saddened by the tragedy of Air India Flight 171,' Gautam Adani, founder and chairman of the group, posted on X.
'Our hearts go out to the families who have suffered an unimaginable loss. We are working closely with all authorities and extending full support to the families on the ground,' he said.
The last fatal plane crash in India was in 2020 and involved Air India Express, the airline's low-cost arm.
The airline's Boeing-737 overshot a 'table-top' runway at Kozhikode International Airport in southern India. The plane skidded off the runway, plunging into a valley and crashing nose-first into the ground.
Twenty-one people were killed
in that crash.
The formerly state-owned Air India was taken over by Indian conglomerate Tata Group in 2022, and merged with Vistara – a joint venture between the group and Singapore Airlines – in 2024.
Tata said an emergency centre had been activated and a support team set up for families seeking information.
No Survivors
There appears to be no survivors from an Air India plane crash with 242 people aboard, according to authorities in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad.
'It appears there are no survivors in the plane crash,' Commissioner G.S. Malik has told The Associated Press.
He added that with the plane crashing in a residential area with offices, 'some locals would have also died'.
'Exact figures on casualties are being ascertained,' he said.
(Reuters)
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A diagram illustrating the function of a fuel control switch in the cockpit of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. It shows three positions: 'Run', where fuel is supplied to the engines; 'Switch Unlocked', where the switch must be lifted to enable movement; and 'Cutoff', where the fuel supply to the engine is immediately stopped. The preliminary report highlighted key events before and after the aircraft took off. All systems were reported to be functioning normally up until the moment the aircraft became airborne. Aerial map of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport showing Air India Flight 171's location 20 minutes before the crash, leaving the terminal. Aerial map showing the aircraft's movement path as it begins taxiing toward Runway 23 at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, 13 minutes before the crash. Aerial map showing the location and movement path of the aircraft. The aircraft is cleared for takeoff 1 minute and 38 seconds before the crash. 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