A Boeing 787 Dreamliner operated by Air India crashed shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad on Thursday, killing dozens of people and injuring many others, according to reports from Reuters.
The aircraft, en route to London’s Gatwick Airport with 242 people on board, went down in a residential area near the airport, striking a medical college hostel.
According to Reuters, authorities said that at least 30 to 35 bodies had been recovered from the crash site, with the death toll expected to rise as rescue efforts continued.
The aircraft reportedly crashed into the doctors’ hostel at B.J. Medical College, with visuals showing part of the jet lodged atop the building and thick black smoke billowing from the wreckage
“An Air India plane bound for London with 242 people on board crashed minutes after taking off from India’s western city of Ahmedabad on Thursday, the airline and police said, and India’s federal health minister said that ‘many people’ were killed,” Reuters’ report read in part.
It added, “At least 30 people were killed when an Air India plane bound for London with 242 people on board crashed minutes after taking off from India’s western city of Ahmedabad on Thursday, with the toll expected to climb, authorities said.”
The aircraft took off from runway 23 at 1:39 p.m. Indian Standard Time (IST) and issued a “Mayday” emergency call shortly afterward. Tracking service Flightradar24 confirmed that it received the final signal from the aircraft seconds after departure.
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Air India stated that the passengers included 217 adults, 11 children, and two infants. The nationalities onboard comprised 169 Indians, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian. The airline said the injured were being transported to the nearest hospitals.
Eyewitnesses and relatives of victims described scenes of panic.
“My sister-in-law was going to London. Within an hour, I got news that the plane had crashed,” one relative told ANI at the government hospital in Ahmedabad.
- A student’s mother also told the agency that her son survived by jumping from the second floor of the hostel building, suffering minor injuries.
- Reuters further noted that this was the first reported crash involving a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which entered commercial service in 2011.
- The plane involved was delivered to Air India in January 2014 and had flown for the first time in 2013, according to Flightradar24 and the Aviation Safety Network.
Boeing confirmed in a statement cited by Reuters that it was aware of the incident and working to gather more information. Its shares fell 6.8% in pre-market trading following the news.
Police officials told reporters that 70% to 80% of the hostel area had been cleared and that more victims might still be trapped. Television visuals showed ambulances ferrying victims from the crash site and fire crews battling the blaze.
Investigators from India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Boeing are expected to commence a formal probe into the cause of the crash.
