A London-bound Air India flight crashed shortly after takeoff in the Indian city of Ahmedabad on Thursday, killing an unknown number of people and prompting a major rescue operation.
Flight AI171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner carrying 242 people, including 169 Indian and 53 British nationals, issued a mayday call before crashing just outside the airport perimeter, officials said. Witnesses described flames engulfing the aircraft as it came down in a densely populated area between the civil hospital and Ghoda Camp.
“Our office is near the building where the plane crashed. We saw people from the building jumping from the second and third floor to save themselves. The plane was in flames,” one resident told AFP.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the crash “heartbreaking beyond words,” while UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the scenes as “devastating.”
All flights at Ahmedabad airport were suspended. Air India chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran said an emergency centre and support team were activated for affected families.
India’s aviation minister said rescue teams had been deployed with medical and relief aid.
The crash adds to India’s history of deadly air disasters, including the 2010 Mangalore crash and the 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182 over the Atlantic.
