OAN Staff James Meyers
8:43 AM – Thursday, June 12, 2025
A Boeing passenger plane bound for London crashed shortly after takeoff in India on Thursday, killing 241 out of the 242 people on board.
Authorities have stated that the aircraft went down in a residential neighborhood, and additional casualties on the ground are likely.
Officials said that Air India Flight 171 crashed in Ahmedabad, which is made up of close to five million people, and crashed just five minutes after takeoff while heading to London.
“The flight, which departed from Ahmedabad at 13:38 hrs, was carrying 242 passengers and crew members on board the Boeing 787-8 aircraft,” the airline said in a statement posted on social media. “Of these, 169 are Indian nationals, 53 are British nationals, 1 Canadian national and 7 Portuguese nationals.”
“The scenes emerging of a London-bound plane carrying many British nationals crashing in the Indian city of Ahmedabad are devastating,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.
“It appears there are no survivors in the plane crash,” Commissioner G.S. Malik said, adding that “some locals would have also died” in the buildings it crashed into.
“Exact figures on casualties are being ascertained,” he said.
However, one British passenger miraculously survived the deadly Air India plane crash.
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who was seated in 11A when the Boeing 787-8 crashed into a residential neighborhood Thursday afternoon, is recovering in the hospital, according to Ahmedabad Police Commissioner GS Malik, speaking to ANI News.
Ramesh was found limping through the street in the aftermath of the crash, which occurred just moments after the plane took off from Ahmedabad airport, he told the Hindustan Times from his hospital bed.
It was reported that the pilot made a “mayday” distress call just seconds after takeoff. Wild videos showed the aircraft losing altitude over the populated city and burst into flames, with black smoke covering the air.
Images showed the plane crashed into a doctor’s residence, with the back of the aircraft sticking out of the building.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi called it “heartbreaking beyond words.”
“In this sad hour, my thoughts are with everyone affected,” he said in a social media post.
“Rescue teams have been mobilized, and all efforts are being made to ensure medical aid and relief support are being rushed to the site,” said India’s aviation minister, Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu, according to the BBC.
Additionally, Air India’s chairman, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, said the airline is currently working to assist first responders in any way they can.
“At this moment, our primary focus is on supporting all the affected people and their families,” she said.
“We are doing everything in our power to assist the emergency response teams at the site and to provide all necessary support and care to those impacted.”
As a result, all flights were suspended by the Ahmedabad airport.
Gatwick airport did confirm that the flight, which was set to arrive at 6:25 p.m. in London, had crashed on departure.
According to the Aviation Safety Network database, this was the first-ever crash involving a Boeing 787 aircraft
Boeing also said they were aware of the horrific crash and were “working to gather more information.”
Furthermore, British cabinet minister Lucy Powell said that the government will provide “all the support that it can” to everyone affected by the tragedy.
“This is an unfolding story, and it will undoubtedly be causing a huge amount of worry and concern to the many, many families and communities here and those waiting for the arrival of their loved ones,” she told lawmakers in the House of Commons.
“We send our deepest sympathy and thoughts to all those families, and the government will provide all the support that it can to those in India and those in this country as well,” she added.
The deadliest aviation disaster in India occurred on November 12, 1996, when a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight collided mid-air with a Kazakhstan Airlines flight near Charki Dadri in Haryana. All 349 people aboard both aircraft were killed in the crash.
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