Cliff Notes
- Air India Flight 171, carrying 242 individuals including 53 British nationals, crashed shortly after take-off near Ahmedabad Airport, resulting in no apparent survivors aside from one British man, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh.
- The plane struck a residential area, raising concerns about civilian casualties on the ground. Authorities indicate that many bodies have been recovered, contributing to a high death toll.
- In response, Air India’s management pledged financial support for victims’ families and is collaborating with authorities for a thorough investigation, marking this as the first crash involving a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
India to London plane crashes with 242 people on board
A plane carrying 242 people, including 53 British nationals, to London Gatwick has crashed in India.
Local police said there appeared to be no survivors after the Air India Flight 171 came down in a residential area near Ahmedabad Airport shortly after take-off.
But British man Vishwash Kumar Ramesh survived the crash, his family members have told Sky News.
He told the Hindustan Times newspaper he heard a “loud noise” around 30 seconds after take-off before the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner went down.
“It all happened so quickly,” he said, adding that he suffered “impact injuries” to his chest, eyes and feet. “When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran.”
A fireball can be seen in footage as the plane crashed, hitting a doctors’ college residential quarters, in the north-western city in Gujarat state.