A London-bound Air India plane, with 242 passengers and crew on board, crashed on Thursday just moments after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport in Gujarat. Several casualties and injuries were feared, though an official figure is yet to be confirmed.
With the resuce operations underway, a footage from the crash site has surfaced, wherein a part of the crashed Air India's AI-171 aircraft can be seen on top of a building. A senior police officer told news agency ANI that the preliminary information has revealed that the flight crashed at the doctors' hostel. "Within 2-3 minutes, police and other agencies reached the spot. Almost 70-80 % of the area has been cleared. All agencies are working here," he said.
The Boeing aircraft lost altitude quickly after take off, and crashed near the Ahmedabad international airport in Meghaninagar area at around 2:00 PM. "Flight AI171, operating Ahmedabad-London Gatwick, was involved in an incident today, 12 June 2025. At this moment, we are ascertaining the details and will share further updates at the earliest on http://airindia.com and on our X handle," Air India posted on X.
Several of the injured were rushed to the city civil hospital.
After the crash, several videos surfaced showing thick black smoke billowing for miles around. The emergency responders reached the crash site immediately and initiated an intensive rescue, evacuation, and firefighting operation. "We are acquiring details about the casualties," said Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kanan Desai, as reported by PTI.
Over 200 fire tenders were rushed to the spot to douse the blaze.