An Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft has crashed near an airport on the sting of India’s western metropolis of Ahmedabad with at the least 242 folks on board.
In response to Reuters, rescue employees mentioned between 30 and 35 our bodies had been recovered from the crash web site in a densely populated space of the town. To date, no survivors have been reported.
Flight AI171 was headed to London Gatwick Airport on Thursday the place it was as a result of land at 6:25pm native time (17:25 GMT).
“Of those [on board], 169 are Indian nationals, 53 are British nationals, 1 Canadian nationwide and seven Portuguese nationals,” Air India mentioned in an announcement. The airline described the incident as “a tragic accident”.
“Many individuals” have died within the crash, the nation’s well being minister Jagat Prakash Nadda wrote in a submit on X.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on X: “The tragedy in Ahmedabad has surprised and saddened us. It’s heartbreaking past phrases. On this unhappy hour, my ideas are with everybody affected by it.
“Have been in contact with ministers and authorities who’re working to help these affected.”
This incident is the newest in a collection of great and deadly occasions within the civil aviation business this 12 months, together with a midair collision in Washington in January between a army helicopter and an plane.
The place and when did the aircraft crash?
The aircraft crashed in a residential space referred to as Meghani Nagar, Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, head of the Directorate Basic of Civil Aviation, instructed The Related Press.
Town of 7-8 million folks is in President Modi’s dwelling state of Gujarat. Modi has directed the Ministry of Civil Aviation to take “all doable motion” to help on the crash web site.
There’s a giant Gujarat inhabitants in Nice Britain, and the Ahmedabad-London route is a well-liked one.
In response to flight monitoring web site Flightradar24, the aircraft’s ultimate sign was obtained simply seconds after takeoff at 1:38pm native time (08:08 GMT). It had reached an altitude of 625 ft (190 metres) earlier than crashing again to the bottom exterior the airport, near densely populated residential areas on the outskirts of the town.
The aircraft issued a mayday alert to air site visitors management earlier than all communications from the plane ceased.
Ahmedabad airport has been closed and all flight operations have been suspended till additional discover.
What do we all know concerning the crash web site?
Footage shared on social media of the crash web site confirmed particles on hearth, with large plumes of thick, black smoke rising into the sky close to the airport.
In addition they confirmed folks being moved in stretchers and being taken away in ambulances.
India’s CNN Information-18 TV channels mentioned the aircraft crashed on high of the eating space of state-run B.J. Medical School hostel, killing many medical college students as properly. It confirmed a visible of a portion of the plane perched atop the constructing.
“The constructing on which it has crashed is a medical doctors’ hostel…We now have cleared virtually 70 % to 80 % of the realm and can clear the remaining quickly,” a senior police officer additionally instructed reporters.
Native journalist Sunil Vaidya instructed Al Jazeera: “The crash web site could be very near a civil hospital the place there’s a medical faculty,” he mentioned. “It’s fairly doable that college students finding out there are staying in a hostel close by.”
How unhealthy is that this incident?
This may very well be a really severe crash, consultants say. Alex Macheras, an impartial aviation analyst, instructed Al Jazeera that the Boeing 787 is a long-haul craft, which implies it has capability for numerous passengers.
“That is in all probability going to be one of many worst aviation incidents for Indian aviation historical past in current many years,” Macheras mentioned.
Nonetheless, he added that the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, of which there are 1,100 in operation all over the world, has an excellent observe document for security.
“There has by no means been a deadly crash involving a 787 Dreamliner earlier than this,” Macheras mentioned. He mentioned the incident would elevate severe questions on what may have gone fallacious with this flight and why the plane was “struggling to realize altitude” after takeoff.
What do we all know concerning the Boeing 787 Dreamliner craft?
“The 787 has been in service for 15 years – this can be a mid to long-haul passenger plane, one of many newest from Boeing when it comes to the event and the introduction of carbon-fibre plane,” Macheras instructed Al Jazeera.
“It gives airways with immense effectivity but additionally with the promise of stellar security document that the 787 has. In actual fact, in its 15 years of economic service globally, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner has by no means been concerned in a crash or a complete loss or a deadly accident,” Macheras mentioned.
“So mixed, it’s an plane that the business is aware of is of the very best requirements when it comes to assembly security rules globally, throughout completely different markets but additionally one that’s trusted and basically a workhorse of the skies in terms of long-haul journey”.
Macheras added that he’s listening to from executives inside the aviation business who’re “completely shocked” on the footage.
They “can’t fairly imagine that an plane with an impeccable security document was concerned in one thing that appears like goes to be so catastrophic”, he mentioned.
What are the authorities doing now?
ANI information company reported that at the least 90 emergency response employees are presently deployed on the web site of the crash.
India’s Minister of Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu mentioned he was “shocked and devastated” by the aircraft crash.
“I’m personally monitoring the scenario and have directed all aviation and emergency response businesses to take swift and coordinated motion. Rescue groups have been mobilised, and all efforts are being made to make sure medical help and aid assist are being rushed to the location.”
“My ideas and prayers are with all these on board and their households,” he added.
Elsewhere, Air India’s chairman, Natarajan Chandrasekaran mentioned that “additional updates shall be shared as we obtain extra verified data. An emergency centre has been activated and assist workforce have been arrange for households searching for data.”
Nonetheless, native folks mentioned little data was reaching these apprehensive about family members on the flight or on the bottom the place it crashed. Vaidya instructed Al Jazeera: “It’s chaos. They’ve cordoned off the accident web site and ambulances are dashing to hospitals. However most of the people and kin – they don’t seem to be getting any data.”
Have Air India planes crashed previously?
Sure, however not for a while.
Air India’s security document is comparable with worldwide carriers akin to Turkish Airways, American Airways or Lufthansa. Nonetheless, it isn’t as protected as “top-tier” carriers like Singapore Airways or Emirates (which have had zero, or near-zero, deadly crashes in current many years).
Earlier cases of deadly Air India crashes embody:
- 1966: Flight 101, a Boeing 707, crashed into Mont Blanc within the European Alps, killing all 117 folks on board.
- 1978: Flight 855, a Boeing 747, crashed into the Arabian Sea shortly after takeoff, killing all 213 passengers and crew.
- 1985: Flight 182, a Boeing 747, crashed when a bomb was detonated on board, killing all 329 folks on board.
- 1982: Flight 403, a Boeing 707, crashed throughout a tough touchdown, killing 17 folks.
The unprofitable service was acquired by the Tata Group from the Indian authorities in 2021.
Air India is presently in the course of a strategic turnaround, together with making a big plane order because it seeks to faucet rising demand from India’s increasing center class.
Have there been different Boeing disasters lately?
Sure.
Boeing, which leads the worldwide plane market alongside Europe’s Airbus, has come underneath intense scrutiny over its security document since two deadly crashes involving the Boeing 737 Max in 2018 and 2019.
The 737 Max jets had been grounded worldwide for nearly two years after a crash killed 189 folks in Indonesia in October 2018 and one other killed 157 folks in Ethiopia 5 months later.
It was discovered that the crashes had occurred as a result of defects within the automated flight management software program, which activated erroneously.
The software program was improved and the Boeing 737s had been revamped and cleared to fly once more.
Then, in January 2024, the door plug of a Boeing 737 Max 9 flew off midair throughout an Alaska Airways flight.
The Alaska Airways incident was discovered to have been attributable to a defect within the manufacturing course of, with free {hardware} on the plane.
In March 2024, John Barnett, 62, who reported security issues at Boeing, died from an obvious “self-inflicted” damage in the course of the time he was giving proof in a whistleblower lawsuit towards the corporate.
Barnett labored as a high quality supervisor for the US plane large for greater than three many years till he retired in 2017.
In 2019, Barnett alleged the plane maker, based mostly simply exterior Washington, DC, had intentionally fitted planes with defective elements and passengers on its 787 Dreamliner may very well be left with out oxygen within the occasion of a sudden decompression.
Boeing has denied these allegations.
