London-bound plane carrying 242 people crashes after take-off in India

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, the airline and police said. India’s federal health minister said that “many people” were killed.

The plane was headed to Britain’s Gatwick Airport, Air India said, while police officers said it crashed in a civilian area near the airport.
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 they had recovered at least 30 bodies from the building at the crash site, adding that more people were trapped inside.
The 242 people on board the flight included 217 adults and 11 children, a source told Reuters. Of them, 169 were Indian nationals, 53 were Britons, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian, Air India 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.”

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.

Mayday call

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 rose 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.
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 is aware of initial reports and was working to gather more information.

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 III was also being kept updated.

Ahmedabad is the main city in Modi’s home state of Gujarat. Its airport, operated by India’s Adani Group conglomerate, said it had suspended all flight operations with immediate effect.

“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. (France 24)