Airplane Crash in Ahmedabad: Read Full Story, How Plane Crashed

More than 200 people have been killed as Air India plane enroute to London with 242 people on board crashed minutes after taking off from the western city of Ahmedabad on Thursday. This is one of the world’s worst aviation disaster in a decade. The plane crashed in a residential area, crashing on to a medical college hostel outside the airport during lunch hour. It was headed for Gatwick Airport, south of the British capital. The plane crashed into a medical hostel and several intern doctors are feared dead.

Air India Flight 171 was a scheduled international passenger flight, operated by a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, that crashed shortly after takeoff into Ahmedabad’s Meghani Nagar neighborhood on 12 June 2025, while flying from Ahmedabad Airport in India to London Gatwick Airport in the United Kingdom. Police have reported at least 204 bodies being recovered from the crash site, including both passengers and victims on the ground. This accident is the first hull loss and the first fatal crash of a 787 Dreamliner.

Air India Plane has crashed in Ahmedabad. Over 200 People are Dead. This is one of the worst air accidents in the history. pic.twitter.com/FPTA4DylGu

— Hellobanker (@Hellobanker_in) June 12, 2025

The aircraft was an 11-year-old Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner registered as VT-ANB, equipped with two General Electric GEnx engines. It first flew on 14 December 2013 and was delivered to Air India on 28 January 2014.

This was the first fatal crash involving a Boeing 787 since its introduction in 2011, and according to Boeing, the first hull loss of the type. The airline’s last hull loss was Air India Express Flight 1344 in 2020.

The flight was carrying 242 people: 230 passengers, including 11 children and 2 infants, along with 2 pilots and 10 flight attendants, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Air India.

The passenger manifest included 169 Indian, 53 British, 7 Portuguese, and 1 Canadian national. Among the passengers was Vijay Rupani, the former Chief Minister of Gujarat. The flight was commanded by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kundar.

About the Incident

Flight 171 took off from runway 23 at Ahmedabad Airport at 1:38 PM local time, heading to London Gatwick. Shortly after takeoff, the plane’s tracking system showed it had reached a height of 625 feet before the signal was lost. The pilots sent a mayday (emergency) message to air traffic control. The crash happened during the early stage of the flight, as the plane was climbing. At the time of the crash, the landing gear had not been pulled in.

People in the Meghani Nagar area heard several explosions and saw thick smoke rising after the plane hit a building and slid. A video of the crash showed the aircraft going up normally at first, then suddenly dropping from the sky and crashing in a huge burst of fire and smoke. A senior police officer in Ahmedabad told ANI that the plane had crashed into a hostel building at B.J. Medical College. After the crash, parts of the plane’s tail and stabilizers were seen sticking out from the multi-storey building.

Weather reports (METAR) showed that the weather was clear and visibility was good at the time of the incident.

The cause of the crash is currently under investigation by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) of India. The United Kingdom’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch deployed four investigators to assist in the AAIB’s investigation.

The DGCA and Air India have both launched investigations into the crash. A technical team has been dispatched to assess the cause of the incident. At the time of the crash, the plane was fuelled for the long-haul flight to London, which contributed to the intensity of the fire.