AHMEDABAD, India, June 12, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A London-bound passenger plane 
crashed Thursday in India's western city of Ahmedabad with 242 on board, 
aviation officials said in what the airline called a "tragic accident".

Air India's flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for London Gatwick 
crashed shortly after takeoff, officials said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi described as "heartbreaking beyond words" 
the crash in Ahmedabad, where an AFP journalist saw rescuers picking through 
charred wreckage at the crash site.

"Our office is near the building where the plane crashed. We saw people from 
the building jumping from the second and third floor to save themselves. The 
plane was in flames," said one resident, who declined to be named.

India's civil aviation authority said there were 242 people aboard, including 
two pilots and 10 cabin crew. 

Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven 
Portuguese, and a Canadian. 

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the scenes from the crash were 
"devastating", in a statement addressing passengers and their families "at 
this deeply distressing time." 

The plane issued a mayday call and "crashed immediately after takeoff" 
outside the airport perimeter, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation 
said.

Ahmedabad, the main city of India's Gujarat state, is home of around eight 
million people, and the busy airport is surrounded by densely packed 
residential areas. 

An AFP journalist in the city said the plane crashed in an area between 
Ahmedabad civil hospital and the city's Ghoda Camp neighbourhood.

- 'Devastating' -

Aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu directed "all aviation and 
emergency response agencies to take swift and coordinated action."

"Rescue teams have been mobilised, and all efforts are being made to ensure 
medical aid and relief support are being rushed to the site," he added. 

The airport was shut with all flights "suspended until further notice", the 
operator said.

An emergency centre has been activated and a support team set up for families 
seeking information, Air India chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran said.

"Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the families and loved ones of 
all those affected by this devastating event," he said.

India has suffered a series of fatal air crashes, including a 1996 disaster 
when two jets collided mid-air over New Delhi, killing nearly 350 people.

In 2010 an Air India Express jet crashed and burst into flames at Mangalore 
airport in southwest India, killing 158 of the 166 passengers and crew on 
board.

Decades earlier, an Air India Boeing 747 flying from Montreal to London in 
June 1985 crashed into the sea off Ireland with 329 people on board and 
leaving no survivors.

An Indian commission determined that militant Sikhs had planted a bomb in 
baggage being carried by the plane.

India's airline industry has boomed in recent years with Willie Walsh, 
director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), last 
month calling growth "nothing short of phenomenal".

The growth of its economy has made India and its 1.4 billion people the 
world's fourth-largest air market -- domestic and international -- with IATA 
projecting it will become the third biggest within the decade.

Air India ordered 100 more Airbus planes last year after a giant contract in 
2023 for 470 aircraft -- 250 Airbus and 220 Boeing. 

India's domestic air passenger traffic reached a milestone last year by 
"surpassing 500,000 passengers in a single day", according to India's 
Ministry of Civil Aviation.