An Air India plane bound for London with 242 people on board crashed minutes after taking off from India’s western city of Ahmedabad on Thursday, the airline and police said.
India’s federal health minister said that “many people” were killed.
The plane was headed to Britain’s Gatwick Airport, Air India said, while police officers said it crashed in a civilian area near the airport.
“The building on which it has crashed is a doctors’ hostel… we have cleared almost 70% to 80% of the area and will clear the rest soon,” a senior police officer told reporters.
Rescue workers said they had recovered at least 30 bodies from the building at the crash site, adding that more people were trapped inside.
The 242 people on board the flight included 217 adults and 11 children, a source told Reuters. Of them, 169 were Indian nationals, 53 were Britons, seven were Portuguese, and one was Canadian, Air India 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.”
Aviation tracking site Flightradar24 said the plane was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, one of the most modern passenger aircraft in service.
According to air traffic control at Ahmedabad Airport, the aircraft departed at 1.39 p.m. (0809 GMT) from runway 23. It gave a “Mayday” call, signalling an emergency, but thereafter there was no response from the aircraft.
Flightradar24 also said that it received the last signal from the aircraft seconds after it took off.
