An Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane has crashed close to an airport on the edge of India’s western city of Ahmedabad with at least 242 people on board.
According to Reuters, rescue workers said between 30 and 35 bodies had been recovered from the crash site in a densely populated area of the city. So far, no survivors have been reported.
Flight AI171 was headed to London Gatwick Airport on Thursday where it was due to land at 6:25pm local time (17:25 GMT).
“Of these [on board], 169 are Indian nationals, 53 are British nationals, 1 Canadian national and 7 Portuguese nationals,” Air India said in a statement. The airline described the incident as “a tragic accident”.
“Many people” have died in the crash, the country’s health minister Jagat Prakash Nadda wrote in a post on X.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on X: “The tragedy in Ahmedabad has stunned and saddened us. It is heartbreaking beyond words. In this sad hour, my thoughts are with everyone affected by it.
“Have been in touch with ministers and authorities who are working to assist those affected.”
This incident is the latest in a series of serious and fatal events in the civil aviation industry this year, including a midair collision in Washington in January between a military helicopter and an aircraft.
Where and when did the plane crash?
The plane crashed in a residential area called Meghani Nagar, Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, head of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, told The Associated Press.
The city of 7-8 million people is in President Modi’s home state of Gujarat. Modi has directed the Ministry of Civil Aviation to take “all possible action” to assist at the crash site.
There is a large Gujarat population in Great Britain, and the Ahmedabad-London route is a popular one.
According to flight tracking website Flightradar24, the plane’s final signal was received just seconds after takeoff at 1:38pm local time (08:08 GMT). It had reached an altitude of 625 feet (190 metres) before crashing back to the ground outside the airport, close to densely populated residential areas on the outskirts of the city.
The plane issued a mayday alert to air traffic control before all communications from the aircraft ceased.
Ahmedabad airport has been closed and all flight operations have been suspended until further notice.
What do we know about the crash site?
Footage shared on social media of the crash site showed debris on fire, with huge plumes of thick, black smoke rising into the sky near the airport.
They also showed people being moved in stretchers and being taken away in ambulances.
India’s CNN News-18 TV channels said the plane crashed on top of the dining area of state-run B.J. Medical College hostel, killing many medical students as well. It showed a visual of a portion of the aircraft perched atop the building.
“The building on which it has crashed is a doctors’ hostel…We have cleared almost 70 percent to 80 percent of the area and will clear the rest soon,” a senior police officer also told reporters.
Local journalist Sunil Vaidya told Al Jazeera: “The crash site is very close to a civil hospital where there is a medical college,” he said. “It is quite possible that students studying there are staying in a hostel nearby.”
How bad is this incident?
This could be a very serious crash, experts say. Alex Macheras, an independent aviation analyst, told Al Jazeera that the Boeing 787 is a long-haul craft, which means it has capacity for a large number of passengers.
“This is probably going to be one of the worst aviation incidents for Indian aviation history in recent decades,” Macheras said.
However, he added that the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, of which there are 1,100 in operation around the world, has a very good track record for safety.
“There has never been a fatal crash involving a 787 Dreamliner before this,” Macheras said. He said the incident would raise serious questions about what could have gone wrong with this flight and why the aircraft was “struggling to gain altitude” after takeoff.
What do we know about the Boeing 787 Dreamliner craft?
“The 787 has been in service for 15 years – this is a mid to long-haul passenger aircraft, one of the latest from Boeing in terms of the development and the introduction of carbon-fibre aircraft,” Macheras told Al Jazeera.
“It provides airlines with immense efficiency but also with the promise of stellar safety record that the 787 has. In fact, in its 15 years of commercial service globally, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner has never been involved in a crash or a whole loss or a fatal accident,” Macheras said.
“So combined, it’s an aircraft that the industry knows is of the highest standards in terms of meeting safety regulations globally, across different markets but also one that is trusted and essentially a workhorse of the skies when it comes to long-haul travel”.
Macheras added that he is hearing from executives within the aviation industry who are “utterly shocked” at the footage.
They “can’t quite believe that an aircraft with an impeccable safety record was involved in something that looks like is going to be so catastrophic”, he said.
What are the authorities doing now?
ANI news agency reported that at least 90 emergency response workers are currently deployed at the site of the crash.
India’s Minister of Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said he was “shocked and devastated” by the plane crash.
“I am personally monitoring the situation and have directed all aviation and emergency response agencies to take swift and coordinated action. Rescue teams have been mobilised, and all efforts are being made to ensure medical aid and relief support are being rushed to the site.”
“My thoughts and prayers are with all those on board and their families,” he added.
Elsewhere, Air India’s chairman, Natarajan Chandrasekaran said that “further updates will be shared as we receive more verified information. An emergency centre has been activated and support team have been set up for families seeking information.”
However, local people said little information was reaching those worried about loved ones on the flight or on the ground where it crashed. Vaidya told Al Jazeera: “It is chaos. They have cordoned off the accident site and ambulances are rushing to hospitals. But the general public and relatives – they are not getting any information.”
Have Air India planes crashed in the past?
Yes, but not for some time.
Air India’s safety record is comparable with international carriers such as Turkish Airlines, American Airlines or Lufthansa. However, it is not as safe as “top-tier” carriers like Singapore Airlines or Emirates (which have had zero, or near-zero, fatal crashes in recent decades).
Previous instances of fatal Air India crashes include:
- 1966: Flight 101, a Boeing 707, crashed into Mont Blanc in the European Alps, killing all 117 people on board.
- 1978: Flight 855, a Boeing 747, crashed into the Arabian Sea shortly after takeoff, killing all 213 passengers and crew.
- 1985: Flight 182, a Boeing 747, crashed when a bomb was detonated on board, killing all 329 people on board.
- 1982: Flight 403, a Boeing 707, crashed during a hard landing, killing 17 people.
The unprofitable carrier was acquired by the Tata Group from the Indian government in 2021.
Air India is currently in the middle of a strategic turnaround, including making a large aircraft order as it seeks to tap growing demand from India’s expanding middle class.
Have there been other Boeing disasters in recent years?
Yes.
Boeing, which leads the global aircraft market alongside Europe’s Airbus, has come under intense scrutiny over its safety record since two fatal crashes involving the Boeing 737 Max in 2018 and 2019.
The 737 Max jets were grounded worldwide for almost two years after a crash killed 189 people in Indonesia in October 2018 and another killed 157 people in Ethiopia five months later.
It was found that the crashes had occurred due to defects in the automated flight control software, which activated erroneously.
The software was improved and the Boeing 737s were revamped and cleared to fly again.
Then, in January 2024, the door plug of a Boeing 737 Max 9 flew off midair during an Alaska Airlines flight.
The Alaska Airlines incident was found to have been caused by a defect in the manufacturing process, with loose hardware on the aircraft.
In March 2024, John Barnett, 62, who reported safety problems at Boeing, died from an apparent “self-inflicted” injury during the time he was giving evidence in a whistleblower lawsuit against the company.
Barnett worked as a quality manager for the US aircraft giant for more than three decades until he retired in 2017.
In 2019, Barnett alleged the aircraft maker, based just outside Washington, DC, had deliberately fitted planes with faulty parts and passengers on its 787 Dreamliner could be left without oxygen in the event of a sudden decompression.
Boeing has denied these allegations.
