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| Image Source: Reuters |
Flight was en route to London's Gatwick Airport
Police say plane crashed on doctors' hostel
More than 290 dead, police say
First fatal Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crash
Over 290 individuals were reported dead when an Air India jet heading for London with 242 passengers crashed shortly after it left the western city of Ahmedabad on Thursday, officials reported, in the world's deadliest air disaster in a decade.
One passenger is reported to have survived, according to police, and the man described to Indian media how he heard a loud bang moments after take-off.
The plane collided with the residential area, coming down on a medical college hostel outside the airport at lunchtime. It was heading to Gatwick Airport, south of the British capital.
City police chief GS Malik told Reuters that 204 dead bodies were found at the crash site. Senior police officer Vidhi Chaudhary said police found one survivor who was sitting in seat 11A, with police indicating that others could be alive in hospital.
"Thirty seconds into the flight, there was a large boom and the plane crashed," 40-year-old Ramesh Viswashkumar told the Hindustan Times, which published a boarding pass for seat 11A in this name online.
"It was all so sudden," he told the paper from his hospital bed.
"When I stood up, there were bodies all around. I was scared. I got up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around," he added. "Someone grabbed me and put me in an ambulance and took me to the hospital."
He informed that his brother Ajay was travelling in some other row in the flight. "He was accompanying me and now I am not able to track him anywhere. Please help me find him," he said.
Police commissioner Malik said that the bodies recovered could include passengers and those killed on the ground. Federal minister CR Patil further said that among the dead were Vijay Rupani, former Gujarat state and main city Ahmedabad chief minister
"Chances are there can be additional survivors among the hospitalizrd," police officer Chaudhary told Reuters. "There also are chances the number of killed can rise further. More than 50 injured are in the hospitals right now."
Families had been requested to provide DNA samples to identify the dead, state health secretary Dhananjay Dwivedi told reporters.
"Ahmedabad Civil Hospital student hostel, staff quarters and other residential areas are located in the place where the plane crashed," Dwivedi added. "Residents of that area were also injured."
Parts of the aircraft body were scattered around the crashed building. The tail of the plane was stuck above the building.
India's CNN News-18 TV channels reported the aircraft crashed on the dining hall of state-owned B.J. Medical College hostel, and killed dozens of medical students as well.
217 adults, 11 children and two infants were on board, a source told Reuters. Of them, 169 Indians, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian, Air India said.
Aviation tracking site Flightradar24 identified the plane as a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, one of the youngest passenger aircraft flying.
It was the Dreamliner's maiden crash, as it entered commercial service in 2011, according to the Aviation Safety Network database. The plane that crashed Thursday made its first flight in 2013 and was delivered to Air India in January 2014, Flightradar24 reported.
CRASH JUST AFTER TAKE-OFF
The aircraft crashed a few minutes after taking off, television stations reported. One of the stations showed the plane rising over a suburb before it disappeared from sight before a huge plume of fire can be seen rising in the air from behind the houses.
Photos also showed charred wreckage with huge black smoke billowing in the air near the airport.
They also showed people being taken on stretchers and being taken off on ambulances.
"My sister-in-law was going to London. I got the news in an hour that the plane had crashed," Poonam Patel, a relative of one of the passengers, told news agency ANI at Ahmedabad government hospital.
Ramila, mother of the student who attends medical college, told ANI that her son had walked to the hostel for lunch when the plane crashed. "My son is safe, and I have spoken to him. He had jumped off the second floor, so he had some injuries," she said.
Air traffic control of Ahmedabad airport said the aircraft lifted off at 1.39 p.m. (0809 GMT) from runway 23. It made a "Mayday" call, meaning distress, but then there was no further communication from the aircraft.
Flightradar24 further said that the aircraft was last detected sending signals at seconds after it took off.
Boeing said it was mindful of early reports and was seeking further information. Boeing BA.N shares fell 6.8% to $199.13 in pre-market trade.
Britain was collaborating with the Indian authorities in an effort to rapidly determine the conditions surrounding the crash and to help those involved, the UK foreign office said in a statement posted on its website.
"The Ahmedabad tragedy has left and shocked us," Narendra Modi, the Indian Prime Minister, tweeted on X. "It is beyond words heartbreaking."
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that images coming in of the crash were "devastating", he added he was being kept up to date as the situation unfolded. A Buckingham Palace spokesman said King Charles was being kept up to date.
MODI'S HOME STATE
India's ministry of civil aviation said that its office had been instructed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to extend all possible support to the rescue efforts on an immediate basis.
Ahmedabad is the state capital of Modi's home state of Gujarat.
The Ahmedabad Airport said it had suspended all flight operations with immediate effect. The airport is operated by India's Adani Group conglomerate.
"We are shocked and saddened by the Air India Flight 171 disaster," group chairman and founder Gautam Adani posted on X.
"Our thoughts are with the families who have suffered an unimaginable loss. We are working very closely with all the authorities and extending full support to the families on ground," he added.
The last fatal plane crash in India occurred in 2020 and involved Air India Express, the budget airline's low-cost arm.
The Boeing-737 of the airline skidded off a "table-top" runway at Kozhikode International Airport in southern India. The plane strayed off the runway, inclining into a valley and crashing nose-first into the ground.
Twenty-one people lost their lives in that crash.
The then government-owned Air India was bought by Vistara, a joint venture between Tata Group of India and Singapore Airlines in 2024, and Air India in 2022.
An emergency center had been established and a support team
put in place for the families searching for information, Tata said.
News Source : The Daily Star