Air India crash: London-bound passenger plane crashes in civilian area near India's Ahmedabad airport
An Air India plane with more than 200 people on board crashed near the airport in
India
's western city of Ahmedabad, the airline and police officials said on Thursday, without specifying whether there were any fatalities.
The plane was bound for London's Gatwick airport in the UK, Air India said, while police officers said it crashed in a civilian area near the airport.
'We are ascertaining the details and will share further updates,' Air India said on X.
The crash occurred when the aircraft was taking off, television channels reported. Visuals showed debris on fire, with thick black smoke rising up into the sky near the airport.
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They also showed people being moved in stretchers and being taken away in ambulances.
A total of 242 people were on board the flight, news agency ANI reported, citing Gujarat state's police control room.
India's CNN News18 TV channel, however, said there were 220 passengers and 12 crew on the plane. – Reuters
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The Irish Sun
2 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Just how DID the Air India passenger ‘survive the unsurvivable'? Aviation experts weigh on miracle Brit Vishwash Ramesh
WHEN Air India Flight AI171 crashed in Ahmedabad and blazed up into a huge fireball, many believed that no one would have survived. But after video emerged of 40-year-old Brit Vishwash Ramesh stumbling away from the crash site on his own two feet, puzzled experts rushed to theorise how he narrowly avoided death. 13 The Brit staggered away from the wreckage relatively unscathed 13 Vishwash Ramesh in hospital, visited by Indian PM Narendra Modi 13 It then crashed in a fireball at a doctor's hostel 13 Investigators are scrambling to figure out what went so wrong with the plane Many were also shocked to see the Crash analysts from around the world have now weighed in on how they think the miracle survivor managed to cheat certain death. Vishwash was on seat 11A when the The Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 "came to a standstill mid-air" according to sole survivor Vishwash, and then READ MORE WORLD NEWS Investigators are still combing over footage and evidence to uncover what exactly caused the crash. But experts are also trying to dissect Vishwash's story - and are attempting to theorise how he Vishwash himself told local media that he was able to push open the plane's fuselage by the emergency door and get out before the plane blew up. It is currently unclear whether the opening Vishwash "slipped out" of was the emergency door or a rupture in the aircraft's fuselage. Most read in The Sun But aerospace and aviation professor Graham Braithwaite speculated the lucky Brit may have actually been flung out of the wreckage. He said: "The aircraft was loaded with fuel and it crashed into a heavily populated area. 'I opened my eyes & slipped out'…Brit sole survivor of Air India crash details escape "I can only imagine that he was thrown from the wreckage, and that somehow as it crashed, what it hit managed to absorb some of the impact." He added: "Looking at the scene, I would imagine that the disruption to the aircraft would have been huge. "If anybody could have got out, then they probably could have just gone out in a gap in the fuselage - you'd struggle to infer from this, therefore, that is the seat you must always sit in." The expert also said that surviving a crash like this was more a matter of being lucky about where a passenger is sat. Meanwhile, former senior crash investigator, Tony Cable, told the Guardian his theory on how the jet having its nose up at the moment it crashed may have helped Vishwash escape. He explained: 'The aircraft was pretty nose up when it hit the buildings. "It has presumably broken open in an area of the fuselage adjacent to this guy and fortuitously he has popped out without major injury." 13 The seating plan of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner shows the seat 11A near the emergency exit - while his brother was sat in 11J Credit: The seating plan of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner shows the seat 11A near the emergency exit - while his brother was sat in 11J 13 Vishwash Kumar Ramesh - sitting in 11A - was the sole survivor of the jet crash 13 He also explained that the impact of the crash could have broken a part of the plane, or the emergency door itself, giving the Brit a chance to escape death. Another expert weighed in on the importance of Vishwash's seat selection of 11A. Engineering safety professor John McDermid said that his choice of seat may have given the lucky Brit more time to escape. Seat 11A is positioned on the left side of the aircraft's body, right next to an emergency door, and has extra leg room because it is the first row of economy seats behind business class. And this specific location on board the plane may have meant that Vishwash was given seconds more to get out of the burning jet. Other passengers sat in regular seats may have been crushed on impact due to their proximity to the seats in front of them, according to the expert. Professor McDermid also said: " My suspicion is that because of the nature of the impact, he was in a strong part of the airplane at the front edge of the wing. "There is not just the fuselage, but the extra structure of the wing to protect from the compression of the fuselage." He added, highlighting the importance of seat 11A: 'It's possible that the impact loosened the door and he could kick it out and get out. 'The external door was only just in front of him so he didn't have far to go.' Another analyst doubled down on the seat's crucial location within the jet. Fire evacuation expert professor Ed Galea said: "The fact that anyone has survived is miraculous." But he put Vishwash's fortune down the seats proximity to the emergency exit. 13 Vishwash's boarding pass shows that he sat in seat 11A Credit: Getty 13 Government officials beneath the tail of the plane, which remains wedged in a building 13 No more survivors are expected to be found in the wreckage In his own research of plane crashes, he found that people sitting within five rows of a serviceable exit have a better chance of surviving than those sat more than five rows away from one. The expert added that when he travels, he always tries to reserve a seat within five rows of an emergency exit to boost his odds of survival. Another theory for how Vishwash survived was also made after shocking footage of the plane's final moments showed what may have been the Unbelievable footage showed the moment the Dreamliner went down - with a mysterious object seen spinning away seconds before the plane blew up into a fireball. The theories about how Vishwash survived also come as a veteran pilot revealed what he believes caused the devastating crash itself YouTuber and commercial airline pilot Captain Steve Chen gave his chilling theory after watching the Some 279 people have been killed following the horror smash in Ahmedabad, India. Investigations are still ongoing into the cause of the crash - with at least one of the black boxes recovered from the wreck. 13 People stand near debris at the site of the crash Credit: Getty 13 The plane was seen wedged in a building Credit: Reuters 13 Both pilot Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and co-pilot Clive Kunder and believed to be among the dead. Mr Sabharwal, who had 8,200 hours of experience, while his colleague Mr Kunder had 1,100 hours. Vishwash could also provide key clues as to what happened to the plane. He said cabin lights began flickering before the jet sank through the air and crashed. Recalling the moments before tragedy, Vishwash, from Leicester, said: "When the flight took off, within five to 10 seconds it felt like it was stuck in the air. "Suddenly, the lights started flickering - green and white. "The aircraft wasn't gaining altitude and was just gliding before it suddenly slammed into a building and exploded." Vishwash's flickering lights revelation comes after a passenger, who took the plane the day before the crash, claimed electrical parts such as the back-of-seat screens weren't working. Aviation experts have speculated that the reports of dodgy electrics could be a sign of a power failure, possibly explaining the crash. Air India is keeping an open mind as to what went wrong and caused the deaths of 52 Brits. Theories being considered include issues with the engine thrust, flaps and landing gear - as well as a bird strike and a pilot error. India's dark aviation history A LONDON-BOUND Air India flight crashed in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad on Thursday. The following are details of some other airline accidents in India in recent decades: AUGUST 2020 At least 18 people died and 16 were severely injured when an Air India Express Boeing 737 plane skidded off the runway in the southern city of Kozhikode during heavy rain, plunged into a valley and crashed nose-first into the ground. MAY 2010 An Air India Boeing 737 flight from Dubai overshot the runway at the airport in the southern city of Mangaluru and crashed into a ravine, killing 158 people on board. JULY 2000 More than 50 people were killed when a state-owned Alliance Air flight between Kolkata and the capital, New Delhi, crashed in a residential area of the eastern city of Patna.
Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Authorities start handing over remains of Air India crash victims to relatives
Authorities have started handing over remains of the victims of one of India's worst aviation disasters after identifying some through DNA tests, days after the Air India flight crashed and killed at least 270 people in Gujarat state, officials said. The Gatwick-bound Boeing 787 struck a medical college hostel in a residential area of the northwestern city of Ahmedabad minutes after take-off on Thursday, killing 241 people on board and at least 29 on the ground. One passenger survived. Relatives grieve as they attend the funeral of Shubh Modi and his sister Shagun Modi, both victims of the Air India plane crash, at a crematorium in Ahmedabad, India (Rafiq Maqbool/AP) Hundreds of relatives of the crash victims provided DNA samples at hospital. Most of the bodies were charred or mutilated, making them unrecognisable. Rajneesh Patel, an official at the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad, said authorities have so far identified 32 victims through DNA mapping and their families were informed. He said the remains of 14 victims were handed over to relatives. The victims' families waited outside the hospital mortuary as authorities worked to complete formalities and transfer the bodies in coffins into ambulances. Most of them have expressed frustration at the slow pace of the identification process. Authorities say it normally takes up to 72 hours to complete DNA matching and they are expediting the process. Alongside the formal investigation, the Indian government has set up a high-level committee to examine the causes leading to the crash. Investigators come out after visiting the Air India plane crash site in Ahmedabad, India (Ajit Solanki/AP) The committee will focus on formulating procedures to prevent and handle aircraft emergencies in the future, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a statement on Saturday. Authorities have also begun inspecting Air India's entire fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners, minister of civil aviation Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said on Saturday in New Delhi at his first news briefing since Thursday's crash. Eight of the 34 Dreamliners in India have already undergone inspection, Mr Kinjarapu said, adding that the remaining aircraft will be examined with 'immediate urgency'. Investigators on Friday recovered the plane's digital flight data recorder, or the black box, from a rooftop near the crash site. The device is expected to reveal information about the engine and control settings, while the voice recorder will provide cockpit conversations, said Paul Fromme, a mechanical engineer with the UK-based Institution of Mechanical Engineers. The plane that crashed was 12 years old. Boeing planes have been plagued by safety issues on other types of aircraft. There are currently around 1,200 of the 787 Dreamliner aircraft worldwide and this was the first deadly crash in 16 years of operation, according to experts.
Irish Times
5 hours ago
- Irish Times
Air India crash: US officials survey site, families waiting for bodies
Officials from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) surveyed the site of Air India plane crash that killed at least 271 people, sources said on Sunday, with families continuing to wait for DNA profiling results to identify charred bodies. Along with the NTSB, officials from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) were in Ahmedabad in western India's Gujarat state surveying the crash site, said one source. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with 242 people on board bound for Gatwick airport south of London began losing height seconds after take-off in Ahmedabad on Thursday, and erupted in a huge fireball as it hit buildings below. All but one on board were declared dead in the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade. Some 30 people died on the ground. READ MORE Air India and the Indian government were looking at several aspects of the crash including issues linked to its engine thrust, flaps, and why the landing gear remained open as the plane took off and then came down. The secretary of the US Department of Transport, Sean Duffy, said on Friday he was in the process of deploying a team from the FAA and the NTSB to India. Boeing and GE, whose engines were used in the plane, were also sending teams. 'We'll take action should any recommendations come forward from the NTSB's investigation,' Mr Duffy said. The FAA has said India will lead the investigation, but the NTSB is the official US representative for providing assistance, while the FAA provides technical support. Boeing officials will also look at various parameters in their inspections, including the angle of landing, as they investigate the matter, said the first source. In all, around 10 officials were present at the site on Sunday, including from the NTSB, said the second source. India's aviation regulator has ordered all Boeing 787s being operated by local carriers to be inspected. In Ahmedabad, doctors were struggling to identify bodies that were charred in the incident, resorting to dental samples and DNA profiling. DNA samples of 32 victims from the crash have been successfully matched, Rajnish Patel, additional superintendent at the city's main hospital, said on Sunday. 'The bodies for which DNA samples have been matched are being handed over to the families with due respect,' he said. The crash brings a fresh challenge for both Air India which has for years being trying to revamp its fleet, and Boeing, which is trying to rebuild public trust following a series of safety and production crises. – Reuters
