An Air India plane bound for London crashed within minutes of take-off on Thursday carrying hundreds of passengers onboard in India’s northwestern city of Ahmedabad. Here’s what world leaders have said so far.
Bloomberg:
Arm CEO Rene Haas sides with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, saying US export controls on China threaten to slow tech advances and harm consumers and companies — “If you narrow access to to technology and you force other e…
The plane was seen disappearing behind buildings before the huge blast[/caption]
x/mitrapreda
The wreckage of the plane can be seen after smashing through the wall of a hostel[/caption]
The number of dead bodies recovered so far include passengers on the plane and people that were on the ground at the time.
Seconds before the crash, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner was filmed flying low over the Meghani Nagar residential area with the pilots appearing to be in a desperate bid to keep the plane in the air.
Moments later it is seen disappearing behind buildings before a huge blast erupts in the distance.
Thick plumes of black smoke can be seen quickly pouring into the skies.
According to flight tracking website Flightradar, the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner’s final signal was received just seconds after take-off.
This was last logged at 1:38pm local time – less than a minute after it started the journey.
In a statement the airline said: “Flight AI171, operating Ahmedabad-London Gatwick was involved in an accident on 12 June 2025.
“At this moment, we are ascertaining the details and will share further updates at the earliest opportunity.”
Out of the 242 on board, 169 were Indian travellers, one Canadian and seven Portuguese nationals alongside the Brits.
King Charles II said he was “desperately shocked” by Thursday’s air crash in India, sending “prayers and deepest possible sympathies” to the families of those affected.
“My wife and I have been desperately shocked by the terrible events in Ahmedabad this morning,” the monarch wrote on Instagram, calling it a “heartbreaking and traumatic time”.
EPA
Firefighters work at the site of the crash[/caption]
EPA
The plane is said to have crashed less than a minute after take off[/caption]
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the crash was “devastating”, while his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi said it was “heartbreaking beyond words”.
Air India’s chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran described the incident as a “tragic accident” and a “devastating event” and said emergency response teams are at the site.
The US-built Boeing 787 is one of the world’s most advanced airliners and the accident is the first fatal crash involving the plane.
There are more than 1,000 Dreamliners in service across the world.
It follows a number of deadly aviation disasters in recent months.
A LONDON-BOUND Air India flight crashed in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad on Thursday.
The following are details of some other airline accidents in India in recent decades:
AUGUST 2020 At least 18 people died and 16 were severely injured when an Air India Express Boeing 737 plane skidded off the runway in the southern city of Kozhikode during heavy rain, plunged into a valley and crashed nose-first into the ground.
MAY 2010 An Air India Boeing 737 flight from Dubai overshot the runway at the airport in the southern city of Mangaluru and crashed into a ravine, killing 158 people on board.
JULY 2000 More than 50 people were killed when a state-owned Alliance Air flight between Kolkata and the capital, New Delhi, crashed in a residential area of the eastern city of Patna.
His looping melodies and bewitching harmonies were the soundtrack to an endless, Californian summer. Brian Wilson’s death has prompted an outpouring of affection and admiration, as the music industry pays tribute to a man considered a lyrical genius a…
A Queens city lawmaker is urging her constituents to take up firearms and exercise their “constitutional right to defend themselves” after a home invasion left a local family tied up and robbed by suspects posing as Amazon delivery workers.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, with 242 people on board, which was headed for Gatwick Airport had only one survivor after it crashed onto a medical college hostel during lunch hour.
Describing Indian and Canada as “vibrant democracies”, the external affairs ministry on Thursday said New Delhi believes the forthcoming meeting between the prime ministers of the two countries on the sidelines of the G7 Summit will offer an importan
Describing Indian and Canada as “vibrant democracies”, the external affairs ministry on Thursday said New Delhi believes the forthcoming meeting between the prime ministers of the two countries on the sidelines of the G7 Summit will offer an importan