One of the most devastating aviation tragedies occurred Thursday afternoon in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, when Air India’s London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner (AI171) crashed close to a heavily populated area barely 33 seconds after takeoff, killing at least 260 people.
India’s deadliest aviation disaster in 30 years happened just 3 Km from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad. The plane, which had 12 crew members and 230 passengers on board, crashed into the physicians’ dorm at BJ Medical College in the Meghani Nagar neighborhood destroying the building. Vijay Rupani, the former chief minister of Gujarat, was one of the fatalities.
According to a statement from Air India, there were 169 Indians, 53 British, 7 Portuguese, and 1 Canadian on board the Boeing aircraft. The only survivor of the catastrophe was Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a British national of Indian descent who sat in seat 11A.
Get real-time updates about the Ahmedabad plane disaster.
1. India Air What we now know about the Ahmedabad plane accident Three buildings close to the BJ Medical College were hit by the plane, including an eating area for MBBS students. A huge fireball spread into the surrounding region as a result of the significant damage to the nearby five-story buildings that housed hospital employees. Throughout the night, more than 150 CRPF soldiers, firemen, and civilian rescue teams frantically cleared the debris and searched for any survivors.
2. Today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Ahmedabad. Following the incident, the Prime Minister wrote on X: “We are shocked and saddened by the tragedy in Ahmedabad. It is beyond words how heartbreaking it is. Home Minister Amit Shah and Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu, who visited the scene, called the extent of the destruction “unimaginable.”
3. In order to help identify the victims of the Air India tragedy, bereaved families provided DNA samples overnight at a temporary blood collection station that was set up inside the BJ Medical College examination hall, outside Ahmedabad’s Civil Hospital mortuary. The corpses of those killed in Thursday’s tragedy are kept in the closely guarded mortuary.
4. To evaluate the response and collect comprehensive data regarding the destruction, Amit Shah presided over a high-level conference. Shah told reporters, “There was no chance of saving anyone because of the high temperature and the plane carrying nearly 125,000 litres of fuel.”
5. Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, a Line Training Captain with more than 8,200 hours of flight time, was piloting the doomed Dreamliner along with Clive Kundar, a co-pilot with 1,100 hours of flight time. Both were on the senior pilot roster of Air India.
6. According to Flightradar24 data, the twin-engine Boeing 787 had gained 625 feet of altitude at 174 knots before descending slowly as its landing gear remained extended. The family of each passenger who died would receive ₹1 crore in compensation, according to the Tata Group, which controls Air India. The airline and its parent company said that helping emergency response personnel at the disaster scene and providing comfort to the families of the victims were their top priorities right now.
7. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed in India, causing the first fatal accident since 2011. The crash, which occurred in 2014, is the deadliest aviation disaster in India since 1996. The US National Transportation Safety Board will lead an investigators’ team to assist India. President Trump pledged immediate assistance.