The Latest: Air India plane bound for London crashes with 242 onboard
Air India says a London-bound flight crashed shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad airport Thursday with 242 passengers and crew onboard.
The airline said flight AI 171, a Boeing 787-8, crashed into a residential area near the airport in Ahmedabad, a northwestern city with a population of more than 5 million, five minutes after taking off at 1:38 p.m. local time.
The plane was bound for London Gatwick Airport and was carrying 169 Indians, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese and one Canadian, Air India said.
Visuals on local television channels showed smoke billowing from the crash site.
Here’s the latest:
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Boeing’s 787 first entered service in 2009
At the time, it was the world’s first airliner made mostly from lightweight composite materials. It was also the first to make extensive use of lithium ion batteries, which are lighter, recharge faster and can hold more energy than other types of batteries.
In 2013 the 787 fleet, which numbered around 50 jets at the time, was temporarily grounded because of overheating of its lithium-ion batteries, which in some cases sparked fires.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi says crash is “heartbreaking beyond words”
In a social media post, Modi said the tragedy in Ahmedabad “has stunned and saddened us.”
“In this sad hour, my thoughts are with everyone affected by it,” he said, adding he has been in touch with ministers and authorities who are working to assist those affected.
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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer: Crash is ‘devastating’
“The scenes emerging of a London-bound plane carrying many British nationals crashing in the Indian city of Ahmedabad are devastating,” Starmer said in a statement.
Air India said the passengers onboard the Boeing 787-8 included 53 British nationals. Britain has very close ties with India and according to the 2021 U.K. census, there were nearly 1.9 million people in the country of Indian descent.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch echoed the prime minister’s message.
“My thoughts are with all those affected — especially the families of those on board, and the emergency teams responding to what appears to be a horrifying tragedy,” Badenoch said on the X social media platform.
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Shares of Boeing tumble in pre-market trading
Boeing said in a brief statement: “We are aware of initial reports and are working to gather more information.”
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 Lion Air Flight 610, 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, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a Boeing 737 Max 8, crashed after takeoff from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing 157 passengers and crew members.
Shares of Boeing Co. tumbled as much as 9% before trading opened in the U.S.
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Last major passenger plane crash in India was in 2020
In August 2020 an Air India Express Boeing-737 skidded off a hilltop runway in southern India, killing 21 people.
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.
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India’s foreign minister says ‘deeply shocked’ by the crash
India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, said he was “deeply shocked to learn about the flight crash in Ahmedabad” in a post on X. “Our prayers are with the passengers and their families,” he said.
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Passengers included Indian, British, Portuguese and Canadian nationals
Air India in a statement said there were 242 passengers and crew members on board the Boeing 787-8 aircraft.
Of these, 169 are Indian nationals, 53 British, one Canadian and seven Portuguese. The injured are being taken to the nearest hospitals.