An Air India flight with 242 people, including 12 crew members, bound for London, crashed today (12), shortly after takeoff, in the city of Ahmedabad, in northwest India. The Indian Health Minister, Jagat Prakash Nada, stated that many people died but provided no further information. Authorities say one passenger survived the crash.
Ahmedabad police commissioner G.S. Malik confirmed in a statement to NPR that 204 bodies have been recovered. As the plane crashed in a residential area of the city, residents may be among the dead. A government official confirmed that Vijay Rupani, former Chief Minister of the Indian state of Gujarat, died in the crash.
Malik also confirmed that one passenger survived the crash and said he was being treated at a local hospital. The passenger is a British citizen, BBC reported.
Images published by the Press Trust of India showed the plane plunging into a residential neighborhood followed by the sound of an explosion and a fireball. The Press Trust shared images of doctors carrying victims on stretchers. The plane crashed just five minutes after takeoff, according to Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, Director General of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, who spoke to the Associated Press.
The Boeing 787 was headed to London’s Gatwick Airport. Air India said the flight carried 169 Indian citizens, 53 British citizens, one Canadian, and seven Portuguese. Several videos shared by residents appeared to show charred bodies and body parts at the crash site.
Victims may also be included among the people impacted after the plane, or parts of the plane, collided with the cafeteria of a student dormitory at BJ Medical College in Ahmedabad, according to a hospital employee who did not want to be identified as she was not authorized to speak to the press. The Federation of All India Medical Associations (FAIMA) said that 50 medical students were hospitalized, at least four students were missing, and at least two were in critical condition.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the crash “a tragedy” that “has shocked and saddened us”.
“It is heartbreaking, beyond words. At this sad moment, my thoughts are with all those affected and their families”, he wrote on X.
Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of the Tata Group, which operates Air India, stated in a statement that flight AI171 was involved in a “tragic incident”. He said the conglomerate was assisting emergency teams and providing care and support to those affected. The airport from which the flight took off has suspended operations.
This is the first accident involving a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, according to the Aviation Safety Network. The aircraft issued a “Mayday” signal, indicating an emergency before crashing. A Boeing spokesperson told the Associated Press that the company was aware of the crash reports and “working to gather more information”. The 787 was launched in 2009 and more than 1,000 units are in operation globally, according to Boeing.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced on Thursday morning (12) that it will lead a team of American investigators going to India to assist in the crash investigation.
The New York Times reported in April 2024 that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was investigating claims made by a whistleblower – a Boeing engineer – who alleged that parts of the 787 Dreamliner were improperly fastened and could break after thousands of flights. At the time, Boeing told the newspaper that it had “determined that this is not an immediate flight safety issue”.
The last major plane crash in India was in 2020, when a Boeing 737 skidded off the runway into a hill, killing 21 people.
Fonte: www.npr.org