Air India flight sure for London with 242 aboard crashes in northwestern India

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Boeing Dreamliner crashed 5 minutes after takeoff in India Thursday afternoon. Flight was scheduled to reach at London's Gatwick Airport Thursday night. 242 passengers and crew aboard. Not less than one Canadian citizen, 53 U.Ok. residents on aircraft. Ahmedabad residents on the bottom might have died, metropolis official says. Modi, Starmer, Air India categorical condolences to affected households. An Air India passenger aircraft sure for London crashed Thursday in India's northwestern metropolis of Ahmedabad, the airline mentioned.

The airline mentioned the flight was carrying 242 passengers and crew general. Indian officers had beforehand mentioned 244 have been on board.

Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, the director normal of the directorate of civil aviation, instructed The Related Press that Air India flight AI 171, a Boeing 787-8, crashed into Meghani Nagar, a residential space within the metropolis of 5 million. Kidwai mentioned the crash befell 5 minutes after taking off at 1:38 p.m. native time.

Ahmedabad's metropolis police commissioner was pessimistic in regards to the prospect of crash survivors in feedback made to The Related Press.

"It seems there aren't any survivors within the aircraft crash," commissioner G.S. Malik mentioned, including that with the aircraft crashing in a residential space with workplaces, "some locals would have additionally died."

"Precise figures on casualties are being ascertained," he mentioned.

<img loading="lazy" alt="A burnt vehicle is shown as a man in hospital scrubs and masks walks by it on a concrete road." srcset="https://i.cbc.ca/1.7559106.1749725507!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/india-plane-crash.jpg?im=Resize%3D300 300w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7559106.1749725507!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/india-plane-crash.jpg?im=Resize%3D460 460w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7559106.1749725507!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/india-plane-crash.jpg?im=Resize%3D620 620w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7559106.1749725507!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/india-plane-crash.jpg?im=Resize%3D780 780w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7559106.1749725507!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/india-plane-crash.jpg?im=Resize%3D1180 1180w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 300px,(max-width: 460px) 460px,(max-width: 620px) 620px,(max-width: 780px) 780px,(max-width: 1180px) 1180px" src="https://i.cbc.ca/1.7559106.1749725507!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/india-plane-crash.jpg?im=" style="aspect-ratio:1.4993646759847523" data-cy="image-img"/> Folks work close to the location of an airplane that crashed in India's northwestern metropolis of Ahmedabad in Gujarat state, Thursday, June12, 2025. (Ajit Solanki/The Related Press) Firefighters doused the smoking wreckage of the aircraft, which might have been totally loaded with gas shortly after takeoff, and surrounding multi-storey buildings with water. Charred our bodies lay on the bottom.

Indian tv information channels reported that the aircraft crashed on high of the eating space of a medical school hostel, and visuals confirmed a portion of the plane atop the constructing. It was unclear if any medical college students have been current contained in the constructing on the time of the crash.

The flight was sure for London's Gatwick, the U.Ok. airport confirmed.

Air India in a social media put up mentioned that along with 169 Indian nationals, there have been 53 British residents, seven on board from Portugal and one Canadian citizen.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned he was involved with all of India's ministers charged with responding to the crash.

"The tragedy in Ahmedabad has surprised and saddened us," mentioned Modi. "It's heartbreaking past phrases. On this unhappy hour, my ideas are with everybody affected by it."

1st Dreamliner crash Air India's chairman, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, mentioned in the meanwhile "our main focus is on supporting all of the affected individuals and their households."

He mentioned on X that the airline had arrange an emergency centre and assist crew for households in search of details about those that have been on the flight. "Our ideas and deepest condolences are with the households and family members of all these affected by this devastating occasion," he mentioned.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer known as the scenes in India "devastating" and mentioned he was "being up to date because the state of affairs develops, and my ideas are with the passengers and their households at this deeply distressing time."

King Charles additionally expressed condolences on behalf of himself and Queen Camilla. The king additionally paid tribute to the heroic efforts of the emergency providers and all these offering assist and assist "at this most heartbreaking and traumatic time."

The 787 Dreamliner is a widebody, twin-engined aircraft. That is the primary crash ever of a Boeing 787 plane, in response to the Aviation Security Community database.

The plane was launched in 2009 and greater than 1,000 have been delivered to dozens of airways, in response to the flightradar24 web site. American Airways has the most important Dreamliner fleet, whereas Air Canada additionally has dozens in operation.

<img loading="lazy" alt="Dozens of people are shown with backs to the camera, looking into a hazy, smokey sky " srcset="https://i.cbc.ca/1.7559098.1749733241!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/india-plane-crash.jpg?im=Resize%3D300 300w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7559098.1749733241!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/india-plane-crash.jpg?im=Resize%3D460 460w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7559098.1749733241!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/india-plane-crash.jpg?im=Resize%3D620 620w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7559098.1749733241!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/india-plane-crash.jpg?im=Resize%3D780 780w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7559098.1749733241!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/india-plane-crash.jpg?im=Resize%3D1180 1180w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 300px,(max-width: 460px) 460px,(max-width: 620px) 620px,(max-width: 780px) 780px,(max-width: 1180px) 1180px" src="https://i.cbc.ca/1.7559098.1749733241!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/india-plane-crash.jpg?im=" style="aspect-ratio:1.8098159509202454" data-cy="image-img"/> Folks watch smoke rising after an airplane crashed in Ahmedabad, Gujarat state on Thursday. It's the first main aircraft crash in India in 5 years. (Submitted by Mohan Nakum/The Related Press) Takeoff one of many hardest elements of a flight: skilled Whereas takeoffs and landings are probably the most harmful phases of a flight, John McDermid, a pc science professor on the College of York, famous that the aircraft climbed above 200 metres.

"Pilots can abort takeoff till fairly late," McDermid mentioned. "So it looks like the issue occurred very all of a sudden within the remaining a part of the takeoff roll, or shortly after takeoff, and was sufficiently critical to be unmanageable."

He additionally mentioned that jets have many backup programs, comparable to the power to climb with just one engine, which additionally made it an uncommon accident.

<img loading="lazy" alt="Dozens of people, some wearing suits and some uniformed workers with helmets, stand on a tarmac near a massive airplane." srcset="https://i.cbc.ca/1.7559173.1749732704!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/1933974851.jpg?im=Resize%3D300 300w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7559173.1749732704!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/1933974851.jpg?im=Resize%3D460 460w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7559173.1749732704!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/1933974851.jpg?im=Resize%3D620 620w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7559173.1749732704!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/1933974851.jpg?im=Resize%3D780 780w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7559173.1749732704!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/1933974851.jpg?im=Resize%3D1180 1180w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 300px,(max-width: 460px) 460px,(max-width: 620px) 620px,(max-width: 780px) 780px,(max-width: 1180px) 1180px" src="https://i.cbc.ca/1.7559173.1749732704!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/1933974851.jpg?im=" style="aspect-ratio:1.4993646759847523" data-cy="image-img"/> A Boeing 737-8 below the Air India Specific banner is proven at an aviation exhibition at Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad, India, on Jan. 18, 2024. (Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty Photos) The crash happens amid reviews that the U.S. Justice Division reached a deal not too long ago with Boeing that will enable the airplane big to keep away from legal prosecution for allegedly deceptive American regulators in regards to the 737 Max jetliner earlier than two crashes which killed 346 individuals in 2018 and 2019.

These Boeing crashes occurred 5 months aside in Indonesia and in Ethiopia, with 18 Canadian residents among the many useless within the Ethiopian incident.

In an up to date assertion, Boeing mentioned "We're involved with Air India relating to Flight 171 and stand able to assist them."

"Our ideas are with the passengers, crew, first responders and all affected," the corporate mentioned.

Shares of Boeing Co. tumbled almost 9 per cent earlier than buying and selling opened within the U.S.

The Federal Aviation Administration mentioned that by the Nationwide Transportation Security Board, the usgovernment officers would be capable to help within the investigation ought to India make such a request. The board helps decide the causes of about 450 worldwide crashes yearly.

The final main aircraft crash in India occurred in 2020 when an Air India Specific Boeing 737 skidded off a runway within the southern metropolis of Kozhikode, killing 18 individuals.