An Air India passenger plane bound for London with more than 240 people on board crashed Thursday in Indias northwestern city of Ahmedabad, and there were no known survivors, officials said.
Black smoke billowed from the site where the plane went down in a populated area near the airport in Ahmedabad, a city of more than 5 million and the capital of Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state.
Firefighters doused the smoking wreckage of the plane, which would have been fully loaded with fuel shortly after takeoff, and adjacent multistory buildings with water. Many charred bodies lay on the ground and one was carried away on a stretcher by first responders.
The scenes emerging of a London-bound plane carrying many British nationals crashing in the Indian city of Ahmedabad are devastating, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement.
Indian television news channels reported that the plane crashed on top of the dining area of a medical college hostel and visuals showed a portion of the aircraft atop the building. It was unclear if any medical students were present inside the building at the time of the crash.
It appears there are no survivors in the plane crash, Police Commissioner G.S. Malik told The Associated Press.
As the plane has fallen in a residential area which also had offices, some locals would have also died, he added. “Exact figures on casualties are being ascertained.
Modi called the crash heartbreaking beyond words.
In this sad hour, my thoughts are with everyone affected, he said in a social media post.
The airline said the Gatwick Airport-bound flight was carrying 242 passengers and crew. Of those, Air India said there were 169 Indians, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese and one Canadian.
Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, the director general of the directorate of civil aviation, told AP that Air India flight 171, a Boeing 787-8, crashed into a residential area called Meghani Nagar five minutes after taking off at 1:38 p.m. local time. He said 244 people were on board and it was not immediately possible to reconcile the discrepancy with Air India’s numbers.
All efforts were being made to ensure medical aid and relief support at the site, Indias Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu posted on X.