How the devastating Air India to London plane crash unfolded and what could have caused it
British man sole survivor from Boeing 787 Dreamliner carrying 242 people
A British national was the sole survivor after an Air India flight bound for London crashed with 242 people on board in India on Thursday.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner departed from Ahmedabad airport in the western state of Gujarat at 1.39pm local time (8.09am BST). But after issuing a mayday call, it crashed into a residential area called Meghani Nagar just five minutes after taking off, India’s civil aviation authority confirmed.
Images and videos from the city showed plumes of smoke pouring from the wreckage of the plane as firefighters tried to douse the charred remains of buildings impacted by the crash.
Investigators had located one of the two black boxes from the wreckage, Hindustan Times reported. The recovered box was from the rear of the plane and a search was on for the second box from the front of the aircraft.
Indian civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said on Thursday night that a formal investigation had been initiated. British and US transport authorities have confirmed they are both helping to investigate the crash.
The sole survivor, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who had been sitting in seat 11A, was identified by local police shortly after the crash.
Click here for the latest updates on the disaster.
Here is everything we know about the crash so far:
What happened prior to the Air India crash?
After taking off from Ahmedabad airport at 1.39pm local time, the flight made a mayday call to air traffic control.
But there was no response to subsequent calls made by controllers to the aircraft, Indian aviation authorities reported.
According to flight tracking service FlightRadar24, the signal from the plane was lost “less than a minute after take-off”. Five minutes later, the plane crashed into a residential area in Meghani Nagar.
Police later confirmed that 240 bodies had been recovered from the crash site. It was unclear how many of them were people from the plane and how many victims on the ground.
What route had the plane been taking?
Flight AI171 had been travelling to London Gatwick.
But flight tracking data showed the plane was only briefly airborne before crashing close to the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.
What caused the crash?
While it was still unclear what had caused the crash, poor maintenance, a bird strike, engine failure as well as the weather were being suggested as the reasons.
The temperature in Ahmedabad went over 40C on Thursday and the thinner air would have made take-off more difficult, requiring higher flap settings and greater engine thrust, experts told the BBC and the New York Times.
Improper flap extension during take-off could prevent a heavily loaded jet carrying passengers, long-haul fuel and operating in hot conditions from generating enough lift to get airborne.
A former pilot told the BBC that footage of the airplane was not clear enough to determine if the flaps were correctly extended, but such an error would be “highly unusual”. Moreover, he said, incorrect flap settings would have set off warnings.
But Richard Curran, professor of sustainable aviation at City, University of London, said he had been told by multiple sources that the pilots issued a malfunction warning prior to the crash.
Prof Curran, who previously spent 12 years as KLM’s chair of engineering and maintenance, told The Independent: “They actually registered a malfunction. So that means they had a technical problem”, adding: “So it was not a pilot error.”
And he dismissed suggestions that multiple bird strikes could have caused dual engine failure, saying: “These these pilots are extremely well trained. They’re trained for bird strike. It’s one of the basic things that you go through in simulator training as a pilot.”
Who was on board the plane?
There were 230 passengers and 12 crew members onboard the aircraft. They included 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese citizens and one Canadian, Air India said.
The flight was under the command of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, a line training captain with 8,200 hours of flying experience, and First Officer Clive Kundar, who had logged 1,100 hours.
There were 10 other crew members on board, civil aviation authorities said.
The MP for Leicester East said she understood “a handful of Leicester residents” were onboard the crashed flight.
Shivani Raja told BBC News that her community, which has a high population of British-Gujaratis, were “all really horrified and devastated waking up to such tragic news”.
Who survived the crash?
Air India confirmed that 241 of the 242 people on the flight did not survive. A British national was the only person on board to miraculously escape with minor injuries.
It was unclear how many people inside the building that the plane crashed into had died.
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, was sat in seat 11A and walked away from the crash unaided with minor injuries.
His family confirmed his survival, and the BBC said his name was confirmed in the flight manifest shared by the authorities.
According to Hindustan Times, he said: “Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly.”
Mr Ramesh, who has lived in the UK with his wife and child for 20 years, was in India for a few days to visit family, according to the Indian outlet.
“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,” Hindustan Times reported him as saying. “Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital.”
His brother, Ajay, was also on the flight.
Medical college hostel struck
The aircraft crashed into a hostel building at the Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College and Civil Hospital. “The plane was flying very low before it crashed,” eyewitness Haresh Shah told local news agency PTI. “As it crashed into the building, the sound was like a blast and the plane and the building caught fire.”
College dean Minakshi Parikh told reporters that four students living in the hostel had died and 19 were injured.
“Two third-year students are untraceable. A doctor’s wife was also killed while two relatives of other doctors were injured. Three members of a doctor’s family went missing after the incident,” she said.
Dhaval Gameti, president of the resident doctors’ association at the college, said 50-60 people had been injured.
Footage from the scene showed aircraft debris in the hostel’s dining area, with some tables left with uneaten food on the plates.
What is known about the Boeing aircraft?
The plane involved was a Boeing 787 “Dreamliner” delivered to Air India in 2014. This was the first fatal incident involving the 787.
Soon after the Dreamliner entered service in 2011, concerns over fire risk from lithium batteries led to a temporary grounding. But there was no indication yet that the crash was connected to any technical issues onboard the aircraft.
More than 1,000 Boeing 787 aircraft are in service with dozens of international airlines, including British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, both of which have exemplary safety records.
The aircraft is described by the US manufacturer as “the bestselling passenger widebody of all time” with some 2,000 orders from 89 customers.
The planes have carried more than one billion passengers on nearly five million flights.
When was the last plane crash in India?
The last fatal plane crash in India was in 2020 and involved the airline’s low-budget arm Air India Express.
The Boeing-737 overshot a “table-top” runway at the Kozhikode International Airport in southern India, skidded off and plunged into a valley, crashing nose-first into the ground.
The crash killed at least 21 people.
Where can I find out information about the victims?
Air India has set up a dedicated passenger hotline number 1800 5691 444 to provide more information.
“Air India is giving its full cooperation to the authorities investigating this incident,” the airline said.
The airline has also set up assistance centres for friends and relatives at the airports in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Delhi and Gatwick to “provide support and take care of the needs of the families and loved ones”.
The centres are also facilitating travel for family members to Ahmedabad, it said on X.
Additional reporting by agencies.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments