A Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft sure for London with 242 individuals aboard crashed right into a residential space Thursday moments after takeoff from Ahmedabad in western India.
Video posted on social media appeared to point out the jetliner descending adopted by a fireball and a darkish plume of smoke. It seemed to be the primary deadly crash of a Boeing Dreamliner.
“It seems there aren’t any survivors within the aircraft crash,” G.S. Malik, the police commissioner for Ahmedabad, advised The Related Press, including that “some locals would have additionally died” when the aircraft crashed right into a residential space the place places of work had been additionally situated. “Actual figures on casualties are being ascertained,” he mentioned. Malik advised Reuters that 204 our bodies had been recovered from the crash website.
The sign from Air India Flight 171 was misplaced at 1:38 p.m. native time, lower than a minute after takeoff, flight monitoring website FlightRadar24 mentioned.
The flight was heading to London Gatwick Airport.
A view reveals the rear of an Air India aircraft following its crash, in Ahmedabad, India, June 12, 2025.
Central Industrial Safety Forc | By way of Reuters
“It is a troublesome day for all of us at Air India and our efforts now are centered completely on the wants of our passengers, crew members, their households and family members,” the service’s CEO Campbell Wilson mentioned in a video message posted on social media. He added that these with accidents had been taken to a close-by hospital.
The flight was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members. These on board included 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian, Wilson mentioned.
Preliminary flight-path information “reveals that the plane reached a most barometric altitude of 625 ft (airport altitude is about 200 ft) after which it began to descend with an vertical velocity of -475 ft per minute,” FlightRadar mentioned on X.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner is a top-selling wide-body plane meant for longer routes. The plane was delivered to Air India in 2014, in accordance FlightRadar24.
The reason for the crash and why the aircraft misplaced altitude so shortly weren’t instantly identified and will take months to find out. Beneath worldwide protocols throughout crashes, the nation the place the incident came about will lead the investigation, together with officers, the maker of the plane and its engines, and others.
Rescue workforce members work as smoke rises on the website the place an Air India aircraft crashed in Ahmedabad, India, June 12, 2025.
Amit Dave | Reuters
“We perceive persons are looking forward to data, and please know that we are going to proceed to share correct and well timed data as quickly as we are able to,” CEO Wilson mentioned.
The greater than 11-year-old aircraft had 41,000 hours of flight time, almost 8,000 takeoffs, that are common for that plane and the 12 months it was constructed, based on aviation-data agency Cirium.
“We’re in touch with Air India concerning Flight 171 and stand able to help them,” Boeing mentioned in a press release. “Our ideas are with the passengers, crew, first responders and all affected.”
The aircraft was powered by two GE Aerospace engines.
“We prolong our heartfelt sympathies to the households and family members of these impacted,” a GE spokesperson mentioned. “We have now activated our emergency response workforce, and we’re ready to help our buyer and the investigation.”
Flights at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Worldwide Airport, a significant airport within the space, had been quickly suspended within the wake of the incident and resumed a number of hours later, based on India’s authorities press bureau.
“Rescue groups have been mobilised, and all efforts are being made to make sure medical support and reduction help are being rushed to the positioning. My ideas and prayers are with all these on board and their households,” mentioned Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu, India’s aviation minister, in a put up on X.
Plane touchdown gear on the crash website of Air India Ltd. flight AI171 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, on Thursday, June 12, 2025.
Siddharaj Solanki | Bloomberg | Getty Photos
The U.S. Nationwide Transportation Security Board mentioned it should ship a workforce of investigators to India.
The incident occurred simply earlier than the high-profile Paris Air Present commerce occasion set for subsequent week, the place each Boeing and rival Airbus had been set to announce a whole lot of plane orders.
Boeing has additionally been working to show a nook from a years of security and high quality crises and has made strides, although it remained unclear on Thursday whether or not an plane high quality drawback was in play within the Air India crash.
Boeing shares had been down greater than 4% in early morning buying and selling.
Air India has additionally been investing closely in modernizing its fleet and upgrading its cabins lately.
It is a growing story and will probably be up to date shortly.
