AHMEDABAD, India (AP) 鈥� An Air India passenger plane bound for London with more than in India鈥檚 northwestern city of Ahmedabad, and there were no known survivors, officials said.
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.
Modi called the crash 鈥渉eartbreaking beyond words.鈥�
鈥淚n this sad hour, my thoughts are with everyone affected,鈥� he said in a social media post.
Indian television news channels reported the plane crashed on top of the dining area of a medical college hostel. It was unclear if any medical students were present inside the building at the time of the crash.
The tail cone of the plane with damaged stabilizer fins still attached was lodged near the top of one building.
鈥淚t appears there are no survivors in the plane crash,鈥� Police Commissioner G.S. Malik told The Associated Press.
鈥淎s the plane has fallen in a residential area which also had offices, some locals would have also died,鈥� he added. "Exact figures on casualties are being ascertained.鈥�
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.
鈥淭he scenes emerging of a London-bound plane carrying many British nationals crashing in the Indian city of Ahmedabad are devastating,鈥� British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement.
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, India鈥檚 Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu posted on X. The Indian army said in a statement that its teams were assisting civil authorities to clear debris and help treat the injured.
The first crash of a Boeing 787
The 787 Dreamliner is a widebody, twin-engine plane. This is the first crash ever of a Boeing 787 aircraft, according to the Aviation Safety Network database.
Boeing said it was aware of the reports of the crash and was 鈥渨orking to gather more information.鈥�
Aviation consultant John M. Cox, the CEO of Safety Operating Systems, told the AP from Los Angeles that while the first images of the crash were poor, it appeared the aircraft had its nose up and was not climbing, which is one of the things that investigators would look at.
鈥淎t this point, it鈥檚 very, very, very early, we don鈥檛 know a whole lot,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut the 787 has very extensive flight data monitoring 鈥� the parameters on the flight data recorder are in the thousands 鈥� so once we get that recorder, they鈥檒l be able to know pretty quickly what happened.鈥�
The aircraft was introduced in 2009, and more than 1,000 have been delivered to dozens of airlines, according to the flightradar24 website.
Air India鈥檚 chairman, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, said at the moment 鈥渙ur primary focus is on supporting all the affected people and their families.鈥�
He said on X that the airline had set up an emergency center and support team for families seeking information about those who were on the flight.
鈥淥ur thoughts and deepest condolences are with the families and loved ones of all those affected by this devastating event,鈥� he said.
UK promises support
British Cabinet minister Lucy Powell said the government will provide 鈥渁ll the support that it can鈥� to those affected by the crash.
鈥淭his is an unfolding story, and it will undoubtedly be causing a huge amount of worry and concern to the many, many families and communities here and those waiting for the arrival of their loved ones,鈥� she told lawmakers in the House of Commons.
鈥淲e send our deepest sympathy and thoughts to all those families, and the government will provide all the support that it can with those in India and those in this country as well,鈥� she added.
Britain has very close ties with India. There were nearly 1.9 million people in the country of Indian descent, according to the 2021 U.K. census.
Condolences also poured in from King Charles III, who said he and his wife Queen Camilla were 鈥渄esperately shocked鈥� by the crash.
鈥淥ur special prayers and deepest possible sympathy are with the families and friends of all those affected by this appallingly tragic incident across so many nations, as they await news of their loved ones,鈥� he said in a statement.
Previous crashes in India
The last major passenger plane crash in India was in 2020, when an Air India Express Boeing-737
The worst air disaster in India was on Nov. 12, 1996, when a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight collided midair with a Kazakhastan Airlines Flight near Charki Dadri in Haryana state, killing all 349 on board the two planes.
The crash comes days before the opening of the Paris Air Show, a major aviation expo where Boeing and European rival Airbus will showcase their aircraft and battle for jet orders from airline customers.
Boeing has been in recovery mode for more than six years after , a Boeing 737 Max 8, plunged into the Java Sea off the coast of Indonesia minutes after takeoff from Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board. Five months later, , a Boeing 737 Max 8, crashed after takeoff from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing 157 passengers and crew members.
Shares of Boeing Co. tumbled nearly 9% before trading opened in the U.S.
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Roy reported from New Delhi. Associated Press writers Sheikh Saaliq in Srinagar, India, Pan Pylas, Kelvin Chan and Brian Melley in London and Annika Wolters, David Rising, Adam Schreck and Lorian Belanger in Bangkok contributed to this report.
Ajit Solanki And Rajesh Roy, The Associated Press
