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, in what authorities called the world’s worst aviation disaster in a decade. Ahmedabad police chief G.S. Malik said among the dead included Vijay Rupani, the former chief minister of Gujarat state, of which Ahmedabad is the main city.
Police in Ahmedabad also said at least one person survived the crash of an Air India plane; that survivor has been identified as a British citizen named Vishwash Kumar Ramesh. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, with 242 people on board, lifted off from Ahmedabad Airport at about 1:38 p.m. local time en route to London Gatwick Airport. It gave a Mayday call, signaling an emergency, but there was no response from the aircraft before it crashed onto a medical college hostel after reaching an altitude of 625 feet shortly after takeoff. The passengers included 217 adults, 11 children and two infants, with Air India confirming that 169 were Indian nationals, 53 were Britons, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian. Parts of the plane’s body were scattered around the smouldering building into which it crashed. The tail of the plane was stuck on top of the building.
Part of the plane struck the dining area of B.J. Medical College. Federation of All India Medical Association Vice President Dr. Divyaansh Singh announced in a X post that reports indicate there are 10 to 20 casualties from its student body and resident doctors.
U.S. aerospace safety consultant Anthony Brickhouse told Reuters that videos of the aircraft show that the landing gear was down at a phase of flight when it would typically be up. India’s Civil Aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu said that a formal investigation has been initiated by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau.
According to the Aviation Safety Network database, it was the first crash of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which was introduced in 2009 and has more than 1,000 planes operating globally (according to Boeing). The plane that crashed on Thursday flew for the first time in 2013 and was delivered to Air India in January 2014, per Flightradar24.
The National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday morning on X that it will be leading a team of U.S. investigators going to India to assist in the crash investigation: “The government is constituting a high-level committee comprising experts from multiple disciplines to examine the matter in detail.”
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said that he has spoken with the Air India chairman to offer full support and a team stands ready to support the investigation.
Editorial credit: Soos Jozsef / Shutterstock.com
