More than 200 Killed as Air India Plane Crashes After Takeoff

The London-bound Boeing Dreamliner carrying 242 passengers crashed not longer after taking off in Ahmedabad.

More than 200 people have been killed after a London-bound Air India plane with 242 people on board crashed near the airport in India’s western city of Ahmedabad on Thursday, authorities say.

The crash marked the world’s worst aviation disaster in a decade.

Air India flight AI 171, a Boeing 787, crashed into a residential area five minutes after taking off at 1:38 p.m. local time, said Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, director general of the directorate of civil aviation.

G.S. Malik, the police chief of Ahmedabad, said that 204 bodies had been recovered from the crash site. Vidhi Chaudhary, another senior police officer, said police found one survivor who was in seat 11A, adding that there could be more survivors in hospital.

“Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed,” the survivor, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, told a local media outlet from his hospital bed. “It all happened so quickly.”

Ramesh said he sustained impact injuries on his chest, eyes, and feet.

“When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me,” he said.

“Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital.”

Air India said 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, one Canadian national, and seven Portuguese nationals were on board.

It said that the flight was carrying 242 passengers and crew members on board the Boeing 787-8 aircraft.

London’s Gatwick Airport said in a statement on X, “We can confirm that flight AI171 that crashed on departure from Ahmedabad Airport today was due to land at London Gatwick at 18:25.”

According to the Aviation Safety Network database, this is the first ever crash of a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft.

Boeing’s shares fell 5 percent on Thursday.

“We are in contact with Air India regarding Flight 171 and stand ready to support them. Our thoughts are with the passengers, crew, first responders and all affected,” Boeing said in a statement.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on X that the tragedy in Ahmedabad “has stunned and saddened us. It is heartbreaking beyond words.”

Visuals shared by the news agency ANI on X showed debris on fire, with thick black smoke rising up into the sky near the airport.

ANI also reported on X that India’s aviation regulator (DGCA) said that the aircraft gave a “Mayday” call, signaling an emergency, but thereafter there was no response from the aircraft.

It said that the plane’s pilot, Capt Sumeet Sabharwal, is an experienced LTC (line training captain) with 8,200 hours of experience and that his copilot had 1,100 hours of flying experience.

By Owen Evans

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