An Air India flight, en route to London from Ahmedabad, crashed in a residential area, during takeoff. Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed near Ahmedabad airport while taking off for London, carrying around 242 passengers and 12 crew members. Tracking website Flightradar24 says it received the last signal from the aircraft at 625 feet (190m) “just seconds after take off”.
AHMEDABAD JUNE 12: An Air India flight, en route to London from Ahmedabad, crashed in a residential area, during takeoff. There were reportedly over 240 passengers onboard. Visuals showed a thick plume of smoke emanating from the crash site.
“Flight AI171, operating Ahmedabad-London Gatwick, was involved in an incident today,” Air India said. The plane is understood to have been carrying more than 240 passengers. Tracking website Flightradar24 says it received the last signal from the aircraft at 625 feet (190m) “just seconds after take off”.
Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed near Ahmedabad airport while taking off for London, carrying around 242 passengers and 12 crew members. Heavy smoke was reported near Dharpur in the Meghaninagar area shortly after the incident. India’s Home Minister Amit Shah contacted the Gujarat Chief Minister following the crash. Emergency response teams and fire brigades rushed to the scene to assist in rescue operations. Authorities have yet to confirm the cause of the crash, and investigations are ongoing.
It’s one of the worst aviation disasters in the South Asian nation’s history. The accident comes as the airline’s owner, the Tata Group, is working to revamp the carrier. Founded in 1932 as Tata Airlines by Indian business tycoon J. R. D. Tata, Air India was once a national icon. The Indian government took over and nationalized the airline in 1953.
In 2022, India’s largest and oldest conglomerate, the Tata Group, bought Air India for roughly $2.4 billion, marking the carrier’s return to the Tata fold nearly seven decades after it was nationalized.
Unconfirmed reports claim that rescue workers have found a surviving passenger. The man, who was sat in seat 11A, is now receiving treatment in hospital.
