‘Many Killed’ As Plane Carrying 242 Passengers Crashes

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, June 12, the airline and Police said, with India’s federal health minister adding that “many people” were killed.
According to Reuters, the plane was headed to Britain’s Gatwick Airport, Air India said, while Police officers said it crashed on doctors’ hostel in a civilian area near the airport.
“The building on which it has crashed is a doctors’ hostel… we have cleared almost 70 per cent to 80 per cent of the area and will clear the rest soon,” a senior Police officer told reporters.
The 242 people include 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.
Aviation tracking site, Flightradar24, said the plane was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, one of the most modern passenger aircraft in service.
“At this moment, we are ascertaining the details and will share further updates,” Air India said on X, adding: “The injured are being taken to the nearest hospitals.”
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 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, as well as people being moved in stretchers and being taken away in ambulances.
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 said that it received the last signal from the aircraft seconds after it took off, noting: “The aircraft involved is a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, with registration VT-ANB.”
Boeing, on its part, said it is aware of initial reports and was working to gather more information at press time.
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 Indian aviation minister’s office said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had directed it to ensure all support was extended to the rescue efforts immediately.
All relevant agencies were on high alert and coordinated efforts were underway, the aviation minister’s office added.
Ahmedabad is the main city in Modi’s home state of Gujarat and the airport, which is 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.
The airline’s Boeing-737 overshot a “table-top” runway at Kozhikode International Airport in southern India and 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.
A mother, Ramila, said her son jumped from second floor of the hostel as the plane crashed onto it.
Ramila said her son had just gone into the doctors’ hostel for a lunch break when the plane crashed there and jumped from the second floor, suffering injuries in the process, but is safe.
Poonam Patel, who was at the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad, told news agency ANI that his sister-in-law was on the flight to London, saying: “Within an hour, I got the news that the plane had crashed. So I came here.”
Modi, in a post on X, said: “The tragedy in Ahmedabad has stunned and saddened us. It is heartbreaking beyond words.
“In this sad hour, my thoughts are with everyone affected by it. Have been in touch with ministers and authorities who are working to assist those affected.”
It would be the first time a Boeing 787 has come down like this. The model was launched 14 years ago and just six weeks ago, the US planemaker lauded the fact the model, also known as the Dreamliner, which reached the milestone of carrying one billion passengers.
To mark that occasion, the company said the global 787 fleet of over 1,175 airplanes has flown nearly five million flights, covering over 30 million flight hours.
Weather conditions were stable and clear when the plane crashed, said flight safety expert, Marco Chan.
Surface winds were light and visibility was six kilometres, according to the aviation weather forecast at the time, known as METAR.
Chan added that “there were no significant clouds or weather phenomena reported, with no indications of wind shear, storms or other adverse conditions that might have contributed to the incident.”
The crash is a blow for the company which has been struggling to overcome a range of problems, including fatal crashes, with its 737 programmes.
It will be another test for its Chief Executive Officer, Kelly Ortberg, who is about to mark his first anniversary in the job.
He was brought in to try and help Boeing sort out a range of problems that were raising questions about its future.
Boeing, in its first statement since the crash, said: “We are aware of initial reports and are working to gather more information.”
United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, said his thoughts were with the passengers and families of those on the flight, adding: “The scenes emerging of a London-bound plane carrying many British nationals crashing in the Indian city of Ahmedabad are devastating.
“I am being kept updated as the situation develops, and my thoughts are with the passengers and their families at this deeply distressing time.”
The UK Foreign Office siad “the UK is working with local authorities in India to urgently establish the facts and provide support to those involved.”
“Everyone is running right now trying to save as many lives as possible,” the BBC’s Roxy Gagdekar reported from the scene.
A rescue operation was going on at the spot very near to the airport, with ambulances are all over the area and roads blocked as emergency response teams tried to extinguish a fire.