A plane carrying 242 people, including 53 British nationals, to London Gatwick has crashed in India.
Local police said there appeared to be no survivors after the Air India flight came down in a residential area near Ahmedabad Airport shortly after take-off.
But Indian media reported one passenger, a British man named as Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, survived the crash, suffering “impact injuries” to his chest, eyes and feet.
He told the Hindustan Times newspaper he heard a “loud noise” around 30 seconds after take-off before the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner went down.
“It all happened so quickly,” he said. “When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran.”
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh.
Pic: Hindustan Times
Image: Vishwash Kumar Ramesh. Pic: Hindustan Times
A fireball can be seen in footage as the plane crashed, hitting a doctors’ college residential quarters, in the north-western city in Gujarat state.
Kanan Desai, a top city police officer, told the Reuters news agency more than 200 bodies have been recovered from the crash site, which could include those on board the flight and those on the ground.
Video circulating on social media shows massive plumes of thick black smoke rising into the sky after the crash.
Air India pane crash map
Other images captured what appears to be part of the aircraft’s tail after it crashed into the roof of the BJ Medical College Hostel in the Meghaninagar area.
Air India said flight AI171, which departed from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick at 1.38pm local time, was carrying 242 passengers and crew members.
They include 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian national.
“The injured are being taken to the nearest hospitals,” the airline said.
Tata Sons, which owns the airline, said it will give around £86,000 to the families of each person who died, cover the medical expenses of those injured, and provide support to rebuild the medical hostel.
Ahmedabad Airport said the plane crashed “shortly after take-off, outside the airport”. Flights were suspended until shortly after 4pm local time.
In a statement, London Gatwick said the flight was due to land at 6.25pm UK time on Thursday and a reception centre for relatives of those on board is being set up where information and support will be provided.
Flight tracking website Flightradar said a signal was last received from the aircraft less than a minute after take-off.
It is the first ever crash of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, according to the Aviation Safety Network database.
The model, a widebody, twin-engine plane, has made five million journeys in the 14 years since its first passenger flight.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said “the scenes emerging of a London-bound plane carrying many British nationals crashing in the Indian city of Ahmedabad are devastating” and he was being kept updated as the situation develops.
The King said he and the Queen were “desperately shocked by the terrible events” in a post on X.
“Our 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,” he said.
