Air India Confirms 241 Dead In Ahmedabad Crash Of London-Bound Flight AI171

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Air India has confirmed that flight AI171, operating from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick on June 12, 2025, crashed shortly after takeoff , resulting in 241 fatalities out of 242 people on board. The sole survivor, a British national of Indian origin , is currently being treated in hospital.

The 12-year-old Boeing 787-8 aircraft departed Ahmedabad at 13:38 with 230 passengers and 12 crew. The passengers included 169 Indian nationals, 53 British, 7 Portuguese, and 1 Canadian.

The plane came down in a residential area , crashing onto a medical college hostel outside the airport during lunch hour. It was headed for Gatwick Airport, south of the British capital.

City police chief GS Malik told Reuters that many bodies had been recovered from the crash site. Vidhi Chaudhary, another senior police officer, said police found one survivor who was in seat 11A, adding that there could be more survivors in hospital.

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"Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed," 40-year-old Ramesh Viswashkumar told the Hindustan Times, which showed a boarding pass for seat 11A in that name online.

"It all happened so quickly," he told the paper from his hospital bed.

"When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me," he said. "Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital."

He said that his brother Ajay was seated in a different row on the plane. "He was travelling with me and I can't find him anymore. Please help me find him,” he said.

Police chief Malik said the bodies recovered could include both passengers and people killed on the ground. Federal minister C.R. Patil said the dead included Vijay Rupani, the former chief minister of Gujarat state, of which Ahmedabad is the main city.

"Chances are there could be some more survivors among those who are in hospital," police officer Chaudhary told Reuters. "There are also chances that the death toll will go up. More than 50 injured are in hospitals at present."

Relatives had been asked to give DNA samples to identify the dead, state health secretary Dhananjay Dwivedi told reporters.

"Ahmedabad Civil Hospital students' hostel, staff quarters and other residential areas are located in the area where the plane crashed," Dwivedi said. "The residents of that area were also injured."

Parts of the plane's body were scattered around the building into which it crashed. The tail of the plane was stuck on top of the building.

India's CNN News-18 TV channels said the plane crashed on top of the dining area of state-run B.J. Medical College hostel, killing many medical students as well.

The passengers included 217 adults, 11 children and two infants, a source told Reuters. Of them, 169 were Indian nationals, 53 were Britons, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian, Air India said.

Aviation tracking site Flightradar24 said the plane was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, one of the most modern passenger aircraft in service.

It was the first crash for the Dreamliner, which began flying commercially in 2011, according to the Aviation Safety Network database. The plane that crashed on Thursday flew for the first time in 2013 and was delivered to Air India in January 2014, Flightradar24 said.

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