A London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner has crashed in the Indian city of Ahmedabad and most of 242 people on board are believed killed.
The Air India jet, headed to London’s Gatwick Airport, smashed into buildings housing doctors and their families during lunchtime shortly after takeoff on Thursday.
Rescue teams supported by the military had “found 204 bodies”, City police commissioner GS Malik said, with people aboard the plane and those on the ground among the dead.
According to Indian media, the aircraft crashed on top of the dining area of the state-run B.J. Medical College hostel near Ahmedabad, killing many medical students.
Ahmedabad, the main city of India’s Gujarat state, is home to around eight million people and the busy airport is surrounded by densely packed residential areas.
“One half of the plane crashed into the residential building where doctors lived with their families,” Krishna, a doctor who did not give his full name, was quoted as saying by AFP.
“The nose and front wheel landed on the canteen building where students were having lunch,” he said.
India’s civil aviation authority said there were 242 people aboard, including two pilots and 10 cabin crew.
Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese, and a Canadian on board the flight bound for London Gatwick.
The plane took off at 1:39 p.m. local time (0809 GMT) and sent a “Mayday” emergency call before losing contact, according to Ahmedabad Airport’s air traffic control.
This is the first fatal accident involving Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, one of the most modern passenger aircraft in service. It started commercial flights in 2011, according to the Aviation Safety Network.
US aerospace safety consultant Anthony Brickhouse pointed to a technical issue, noting that “the landing gear was down at a phase of flight when it would typically be up.”
“If you didn’t know what was happening, you would think that plane was on approach to a runway,” he added.
Air India ordered 100 more Airbus planes last year after a giant contract in 2023 for 470 aircraft — 250 Airbus and 220 Boeing.
Following the crash, Boeing’s stock price dropped 6.8% to $199.13 in pre-market trading.
In 2010, an Air India Express jet crashed and burst into flames at Mangalore airport in southwest India, killing 158 of the 166 passengers and crew on board.
In 2020, an Air India Express plane crashed in southern India, killing 21 people.
