A Boeing Dreamliner aircraft sure for London with 242 folks aboard crashed Thursday moments after takeoff from Ahmedabad in western India. Casualties had been reported.
Video posted on social media appeared to indicate the jetliner descending adopted by a fireball and a darkish plume of smoke. It wasn’t clear if there have been survivors, but when there are any deaths, it will be the primary deadly crash of a Boeing Dreamliner.
“It seems there aren’t any survivors within the aircraft crash,” G.S. Malik, the police commissioner for Ahmedabad, advised The Related Press, including that “some locals would have additionally died” when the aircraft crashed right into a residential space the place places of work had been additionally situated. “Actual figures on casualties are being ascertained,” he mentioned.
The sign from Air India Flight 171 was misplaced at 1:38 p.m. native time, lower than a minute after takeoff, flight monitoring website FlightRadar24 mentioned.
The flight was sure for London Gatwick Airport.
A view reveals the rear of an Air India aircraft following its crash, in Ahmedabad, India, June 12, 2025.
Central Industrial Safety Forc | Through Reuters
“It is a troublesome day for all of us at Air India and our efforts now are centered totally on the wants of our passengers, crew members, their households and family members,” the service’s CEO Campbell Wilson mentioned in a video message posted on social media. He added that these with accidents had been taken to a close-by hospital.
The flight was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members. These on board included 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian, Wilson mentioned.
Preliminary flight-path information “reveals that the plane reached a most barometric altitude of 625 ft (airport altitude is about 200 ft) after which it began to descend with an vertical velocity of -475 ft per minute,” FlightRadar mentioned on X.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner is a top-selling wide-body plane meant for longer routes. The plane was delivered to Air India in 2014, in accordance FlightRadar24.
The reason for the crash wasn’t instantly recognized and will take months to find out. Underneath worldwide protocols throughout crashes, the nation the place the incident passed off will lead the investigation, together with officers, the maker of the plane and its engines, and others.
Rescue staff members work as smoke rises on the website the place an Air India aircraft crashed in Ahmedabad, India, June 12, 2025.
Amit Dave | Reuters
“We perceive individuals are looking forward to data, and please know that we are going to proceed to share correct and well timed data as quickly as we will,” CEO Wilson mentioned.
The greater than 11-year-old aircraft had 41,000 hours of flight time, practically 8,000 takeoffs, that are common for that plane and the yr it was constructed, in line with aviation-data agency Cirium.
“We’re in touch with Air India concerning Flight 171 and stand able to help them,” Boeing mentioned in a press release. “Our ideas are with the passengers, crew, first responders and all affected.”
The aircraft was powered by two GE Aerospace engines.
“We lengthen our heartfelt sympathies to the households and family members of these impacted,” a GE spokesperson mentioned. “We now have activated our emergency response staff, and we’re ready to help our buyer and the investigation.”
Flights at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Worldwide Airport, a significant airport within the space, had been quickly suspended within the wake of the incident and resumed a number of hours later, in line with India’s authorities press bureau.
“Rescue groups have been mobilised, and all efforts are being made to make sure medical help and reduction help are being rushed to the location. My ideas and prayers are with all these on board and their households,” mentioned Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu, India’s aviation minister, in a submit on X.
Plane touchdown gear on the crash website of Air India Ltd. flight AI171 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, on Thursday, June 12, 2025.
Siddharaj Solanki | Bloomberg | Getty Photographs
The U.S. Nationwide Transportation Security Board mentioned it should ship a staff of investigators to India.
The incident occurred simply earlier than the high-profile Paris Air Present commerce occasion set for subsequent week, the place each Boeing and rival Airbus had been set to announce a whole bunch of plane orders.
Boeing has additionally been working to show a nook from a years of security and high quality crises and has made strides, although it remained unclear on Thursday whether or not an plane high quality downside was in play within the Air India crash.
Boeing shares had been down greater than 3% in early morning buying and selling.
Air India has additionally been investing closely in modernizing its fleet and upgrading its cabins lately.
It is a growing story and can be up to date shortly.
