A Boeing Dreamliner airplane certain for London with 242 folks aboard crashed 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 gave the impression to be the primary deadly crash of a Boeing Dreamliner.
“It seems there are not any survivors within the airplane crash,” G.S. Malik, the police commissioner for Ahmedabad, advised The Related Press, including that “some locals would have additionally died” when the airplane crashed right into a residential space the place workplaces had been additionally situated. “Precise figures on casualties are being ascertained,” he stated. Malik advised Reuters that 204 our bodies had been recovered from the crash web site.
The sign from Air India Flight 171 was misplaced at 1:38 p.m. native time, lower than a minute after takeoff, flight monitoring web site FlightRadar24 stated.
The flight was certain for London Gatwick Airport.
A view reveals the rear of an Air India airplane following its crash, in Ahmedabad, India, June 12, 2025.
Central Industrial Safety Forc | Through Reuters
“It is a troublesome day for all of us at Air India and our efforts now are centered solely on the wants of our passengers, crew members, their households and family members,” the service’s CEO Campbell Wilson stated 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 stated.
Preliminary flight-path knowledge “reveals that the plane reached a most barometric altitude of 625 toes (airport altitude is about 200 toes) after which it began to descend with an vertical velocity of -475 toes per minute,” FlightRadar stated 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 wasn’t instantly identified and will take months to find out. Beneath worldwide protocols throughout crashes, the nation the place the incident passed off will lead the investigation, together with officers, the maker of the plane and its engines, and others.
Rescue staff members work as smoke rises on the web site the place an Air India airplane crashed in Ahmedabad, India, June 12, 2025.
Amit Dave | Reuters
“We perceive persons are looking forward to info, and please know that we are going to proceed to share correct and well timed info as quickly as we are able to,” CEO Wilson stated.
The greater than 11-year-old airplane 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 assist them,” Boeing stated in an announcement. “Our ideas are with the passengers, crew, first responders and all affected.”
The airplane was powered by two GE Aerospace engines.
“We lengthen our heartfelt sympathies to the households and family members of these impacted,” a GE spokesperson stated. “Now we have activated our emergency response staff, and we’re ready to assist our buyer and the investigation.”
Flights at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Worldwide Airport, a significant airport within the space, had been briefly suspended within the wake of the incident and resumed a couple 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 assist and aid assist are being rushed to the positioning. My ideas and prayers are with all these on board and their households,” stated Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu, India’s aviation minister, in a put up on X.
Plane touchdown gear on the crash web site 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 stated it should ship a staff 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 downside was in play within the Air India crash.
Boeing shares had been down greater than 3% in early morning buying and selling.
Air India has additionally been investing closely in modernizing its fleet and upgrading its cabins in recent times.
It is a growing story and will likely be up to date shortly.
