AHMEDABAD: An Air India passenger plane crashed in the Indian city of Ahmedabad on Thursday (Jun 12), with all 242 people on board believed to be killed.
Flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner which was bound for London Gatwick, smashed into buildings housing doctors and their families.
“It appears there are no survivors in the plane crash,” Police Commissioner GS Malik told The Associated Press.
As the plane went down in a residential area near the airport, casualties on the ground are expected, he added.
“The building on which it has crashed is a doctors’ hostel … we have cleared almost 70 per cent to 80 per cent of the area and will clear the rest soon,” a senior police officer told reporters.
India’s CNN News-18 TV channel said the plane crashed on top of the dining area of the state-run BJ Medical College hostel, killing many medical students as well. It showed a visual of a portion of the aircraft perched atop the building.
Rescue workers said that at least 30 to 35 bodies had been recovered from the site and that more people were trapped.
The passengers included 217 adults, 11 children and two infants, a source told Reuters. Of them, 169 were Indian nationals, 53 were Britons, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian, Air India said.
“The tragedy in Ahmedabad has stunned and saddened us,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on X. “It is heartbreaking beyond words.”
Aviation tracking site Flightradar24 said the plane was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, one of the most modern passenger aircraft in service.
It was the first crash for the Dreamliner, which began flying commercially in 2011, according to the Aviation Safety Network database. The plane that crashed on Thursday flew for the first time in 2013 and was delivered to Air India in January 2014, Flightradar24 said.
“At this moment, we are ascertaining the details and will share further updates,” Air India said on X. “The injured are being taken to the nearest hospitals.”
