More than 240 people were killed when an Air India plane bound for London crashed moments after taking off from the city of Ahmedabad on Thursday, authorities said, in the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, with 242 people on board, which was headed for Gatwick Airport had only one survivor after it crashed onto a medical college hostel during lunch hour.
The sole survivor is a British national of Indian origin and is being treated in a hospital, the airline confirmed. The man told Indian media how he had heard a loud noise shortly after Flight AI171 took off.
"We are still verifying the number of dead, including those killed in the building where the plane crashed," Vidhi Chaudhary, a top state police officer, told Reuters.
She said the death toll was more than 240, revising down a previous toll of 294 as it included body parts that had been double counted. It was not immediately clear how many of the dead had been on the aircraft or on the ground.
The only known surviving passenger was in seat 11A, next to an emergency exit, Chaudhary said, adding that there could be more survivors in hospital.
"Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed," 40-year-old Ramesh Viswashkumar told the Hindustan Times, which showed a boarding pass for seat 11A in that name online.
"It all happened so quickly," he told the paper from his hospital bed.
"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."
He said that his brother, Ajay, was seated in a different row on the plane. "He was travelling with me and I can't find him anymore. Please help me find him," he said.
The aircraft came down in a residential area, crashing onto a medical college hostel outside the airport during lunch hour, in the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade. More than 290 people were killed in the crash. The dead included some on the ground.
Media briefing
The plane bound for Gatwick airport in London crashed shortly after takeoff from India's western city of Ahmedabad shortly after 9am IST.
A spokesperson for India’s external affairs ministry said, “we have lost a lot of people”.
Randhir Jaiswal told a media briefing: “What has happened in Ahmedabad is a very tragic accident. We have lost a lot of people.
“We extend our deepest condolences to all those who have lost their loved ones.
“There are, I understand, several foreigners also.”
The airline’s chairman, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, described the incident as a “tragic accident” and a “devastating event” and said emergency response teams were at the site.
"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.
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 earlier that at least 30 to 35 bodies had been recovered from the site and that more people were trapped.
More people were trapped inside, the rescue workers said.
Air India said the flight was departing from Ahmedabad airport with 242 people onboard the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
The airline said 169 passengers are Indian nationals, 53 are British, one is Canadian, and seven are Portuguese.
The Reuters news agency reported that 217 adults and 11 children were on board the flight.
In a statement, Mr Chandrasekaran said: “With profound sorrow I confirm that Air India Flight 171 operating Ahmedabad London Gatwick was involved in a tragic accident today.
“Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the families and loved ones of all those affected by this devastating event.
“At this moment, our primary focus is on supporting all the affected people and their families.
“We are doing everything in our power to assist the emergency response teams at the site and to provide all necessary support and care to those impacted.”
He added: “An emergency centre has been activated and a support team have been set up for families seeking information.”
Flight AI171, operating Ahmedabad-London Gatwick, was involved in an incident today, 12 June 2025. At this moment, we are ascertaining the details and will share further updates at the earliest on https://t.co/Fnw0ywg2Zt and on our X handle (https://t.co/Id1XFe9SfL).
-Air India…— Air India (@airindia) June 12, 2025
Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, director general of India’s directorate of civil aviation, told the Associated Press the crash happened in the Meghani Nagar area at 1.38pm local time (9.08am BST).
Mr Kidwai said there were 232 passengers and 12 crew members onboard.
It is the first crash involving a Boeing 787 aircraft, according to the Aviation Safety Network database.
Crashed 'seconds after take off'
Flight tracking website Flightradar24 posted on social media platform X: “We are following reports of a crash of Air India flight #AI171 from Ahmedabad to London.
“We received the last signal from the aircraft at 08:08:51 UTC (shortly before 9.09am BST), just seconds after take off.
“The aircraft involved is a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with registration VT-ANB.”
It added that the signal from the aircraft was lost “less than a minute after take off”.
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.
One television channel showed the plane taking off over a residential area and then disappearing from the screen before a huge jet of fire can be seen 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.
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.
A man has described “many bodies lying on the ground” after a Gatwick-bound plane crashed shortly after departing from Ahmedabad Airport.
He wore a surgical mask during the translated interview that aired on BBC News.
Smoke appeared to billow behind him and people in military uniform and masks could be seen walking around.
The man, who was not named, told the reporter: “I was sitting at home, there was a loud noise, it felt like an earthquake.
“I came out and saw smoke, I didn’t realise it was a plane crash, then I came here and I found out and I saw the crashed plane – there were many bodies lying on the ground.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the crash involving an Air India plane bound for Gatwick was “heartbreaking beyond words”.
British Minister Keir Starmer said, “The scenes emerging of a London-bound plane carrying many British nationals crashing in the Indian city of Ahmedabad are devastating”, adding he was being kept updated as the situation develops.
Air India was acquired by the Tata Group from the Indian government in January 2022 after racking up billions of pounds of losses.
Boeing 787 Dreamliner
The first flight of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft involved in the crash was in December 2013.
The plane was delivered to Air India during the following month.
No Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft had crashed until the Ahmedabad incident.
The aircraft type, which entered service in 2011, is described by the US manufacturer as “the bestselling passenger widebody of all time” with more than 2,000 orders from 89 customers.
The planes have carried more than one billion passengers on nearly five million flights.
Air India has 34 of the aircraft in its fleet, according to aviation analysts Cirium.
The jet is flown by a number of other airlines, such as British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Tui Airways.
It increases fuel efficiency by up to 25 per cent compared with the planes it replaces, largely because of modern engines, using lightweight materials and improved aerodynamics.
Recent concerns over the safety of Boeing aircraft have generally related to its 737 Max aircraft.
A Boeing 787 Dreamliner operated by Ethiopian Airlines caught fire while parked at Heathrow airport with no passengers onboard in 2013.
An investigation found the fire was probably caused by a short circuit.
Additional reporting by Reuters
