’Tragic Accident’: London-Bound Flight Crashes in India, 242 on Board

By Staff, Agencies

An Air India passenger plane with 242 people onboard crashed Thursday in Gujarat's Ahmedabad, the airline said. 

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, bound for London, crashed shortly after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad. It plunged into the Meghani area of the city, sending up a massive plume of black smoke and triggering an immediate emergency response.

Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, the director general of the directorate of civil aviation, told The Associated Press that Air India flight AI 171, a Boeing 787, crashed into a residential area called Meghani Nagar five minutes after taking off at 1:38 p.m. local time. 

The flight was bound for London's Gatwick Airport. There were 232 passengers and 12 crew members onboard and emergency teams have been activated at the airport, Kidwai said. It had taken off at 1:39pm from runway 23.

The Air India flight from Ahmedabad to Gatwick [the UK] had 169 Indians, 53 British, and 1 Canadian national onboard, the airline said in a statement.

The aircraft was under the command of Capt Sumeet Sabharwal with First Officer Clive Kundar," Directorate General of Civil Aviation [DGCA] said in a statement.

The DGCA statement said that Captain Sumeet Sabharwal commanded flight gave a Mayday call to Air Traffic Control [ATC].

"Captain Sumeet Sabharwal is an LTC with 8200 hours of experience. The copilot had 1100 hours of flying experience. As per ATC, the aircraft departed from Ahmadabad at 1339 IST [0809 UTC] from runway 23. It gave a MAYDAY Call to ATC, but thereafter, no response was given by the aircraft to the calls made by ATC. Aircraft immediately after departure from Runway 23, fell on the ground outside the airport perimeter. Heavy black smoke was seen coming from the accident site," it added.

The ill-fated plane issued a Mayday call shortly before going silent and then plummeted into a building.