How the devastating Air India to London plane crash unfolded and who was on board
An Air India flight bound for London has crashed with 242 people on board in western India, with a police officer confirming that more than 240 have been killed.
The Boeing 787 aircraft departed from Ahmedabad airport in the western Indian state of Gujarat at 1.39pm local time (8.09am BST) on Thursday.
But after issuing a mayday call, it crashed into a residential area called Meghani Nagar just five minutes after taking off, India’s civil aviation authority confirmed.
Video and images from the city show plumes of smoke pouring from the wreckage of the plane, with firefighters seeking to douse the charred remains of buildings impacted by the crash.
The only survivor, British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who had been sitting in seat 11A, has been identified by local police.
Click here for the latest updates on the disaster.
Here is everything we know so far about the crash:
Who was on board the Air India plane?
There were 232 passengers and 12 crew members onboard the aircraft, Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, head of India’s Directorate of Civil Aviation, said.
This includes 169 Indian nationals on board, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese citizens and one Canadian on board, Air India said, adding that the injured were being taken to nearby hospitals.
The flight was under the command of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, a line training captain with 8,200 hours of flying experience, and First Officer Clive Kundar, who had logged 1,100 hours.
There were 10 other crew members on board the flight, civil aviation authorities said.
The MP for Leicester East has said she understands “a handful of Leicester residents” were onboard the Ahmedabad to London flight that crashed.
Shivani Raja told BBC News that her community – which has a high population of British-Gujaratis – were “all really horrified and devastated waking up to such tragic news”.
Who has survived the crash?
Air India has confirmed 241 of the 242 people on board the flight did not survive, with just one British national miraculously escaping with minor injuries.
It is unclear how many people inside the building the plan crashed into have died.
Leicester-based Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, was sat in seat 11A when the plane crashed and is said to have walked away from the crash unaided with minor injuries.
His family have confirmed his survival and the BBC said his name was confirmed in the flight manifest shared by the authorities.
According to Hindustan Times, he said: “Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly.”
Mr Ramesh was in India for a few days to visit family but has lived in London with his wife and child for 20 years, he said, according to the Indian outlet.
“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. Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital,” HT reported him as saying.
His brother, Ajay, was also on the flight.
What happened prior to the Air India crash?
After taking off from Ahmedabad airport at 1.39pm local time, the flight then made a mayday call to air traffic control.
But there was no response to subsequent calls made by controllers to the aircraft, civil aviation authorities said.
According to FlightRadar24, the signal from the aircraft was lost “less than a minute after take off”.
Five minutes after departing Ahmedabad airport, the plane crashed into a residential area in Meghani Nagar.
A police official told Reuters that the plane had hit a hostel building for doctors.
Police have since confirmed that at least 240 bodies have been recovered from the crash site so far. It is not clear how many of these are people from the plane and how many victims were on the ground.
What route had the plane been taking?
The plane, flight number AI171, had been travelling to London Gatwick.
But flight tracking data shows the plane was only briefly airborne before crashing close to the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.
What is known about the Boeing aircraft?
The aircraft involved is a Boeing 787 “Dreamliner”, registration VT-ANB, which was delivered to Air India in 2014. This is the first fatal incident involving the 787.
Soon after it entered service in 2011, concerns over the fire risk from lithium batteries led to a temporary grounding. There is no indication at present that the crash was connected to any technical issues on board the aircraft.
More than 1,000 Boeing 787 aircraft are in service with dozens of international airlines, including British Airways and Virgin Atlantic – both of which have exemplary safety records.
The aircraft 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.
When was the last plane crash in India?
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. The plane skidded off the runway, plunging into a valley and crashing nose-first into the ground.
Twenty-one people were killed in that crash.
Where can I find out information about the victims?
Air India has set up a dedicated passenger hotline number 1800 5691 444 to provide more information.
“Air India is giving its full cooperation to the authorities investigating this incident,” the airline said.
Additional reporting by agencies
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