RIGHT NOW, BREAKING NEWS: A devastating tragedy has struck as a passenger plane carrying more than 244 people has just crashed. Emergency services are rushing to the scene, with local authorities confirming the crash moments ago. Eyewitnesses described a horrifying scene as smoke and flames rose into the sky, leaving bystanders in shock and disbelief.
The flight, whose details are still being confirmed, went down under circumstances that remain unclear. Aviation experts are already weighing in, suggesting that mechanical failure, weather conditions, or even pilot distress could have played a role. Rescue crews are battling time and challenging conditions in hopes of finding survivors, while hospitals nearby have been placed on high alert.
Families of the passengers are frantically awaiting word, with scenes of heartbreak unfolding at airports and terminals connected to the ill-fated flight. Officials have promised a full investigation to determine what went wrong, but in the meantime, loved ones and communities around the world are clinging to hope for good news.
This crash is already being described as one of the most catastrophic air disasters in recent memory. Global leaders and aviation authorities are expected to issue statements soon, while social media is flooded with messages of prayers, solidarity, and grief. The world now watches anxiously as rescue efforts continue, praying that amid the devastation, miracles of survival can still be found.
AHMEDABAD, India (AP) — An Air India passenger plane bound for London with more than 240 people on board crashed Thursday in India’s northwestern city of Ahmedabad, the airline said.
Visuals on local television channels showed smoke billowing from the crash site in what appeared to be a populated area near the airport in Ahmedabad, a city with a population of more than 5 million and the capital of Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state.
Firefighters doused the smoking wreckage of the plane, which would have been fully loaded with fuel shortly after takeoff, and adjacent multi-story buildings with water. Charred bodies lay on the ground.
“The scenes emerging of a London-bound plane carrying many British nationals crashing in the Indian city of Ahmedabad are devastating,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement.
Modi called the crash “heartbreaking beyond words.”
People watch smoke rising after an airplane crashed in Ahmedabad, Gujarat state, India, Thursday, June 12, 2025. (Mohan Nakum via AP)
“In this sad hour, my thoughts are with everyone affected,” he said in a social media post.
The airline said the Gatwick Airport-bound flight was carrying 242 passengers and crew. Of those, Air India said there were 169 Indians, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese and one Canadian.
Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, the director general of the directorate of civil aviation, told The Associated Press that Air India flight AI 171, a Boeing 787-8, crashed into a residential area called Meghani Nagar five minutes after taking off at 1:38 p.m. local time. He said 244 people were on board and it was not immediately possible to reconcile the discrepancy with Air India’s numbers.
All efforts were being made to ensure medical aid and relief support at the site, India’s Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu posted on X.
The 787 Dreamliner is a widebody, twin-engine plane. This is the first crash ever of a Boeing 787 aircraft, according to the Aviation Safety Network database.
Firefighters work at the site of an airplane that crashed in India’s northwestern city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat state, Thursday, June12, 2025. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)
Boeing said it was aware of the reports of the crash and was “working to gather more information.”
The aircraft was introduced in 2009 and more than 1,000 have been delivered to dozens of airlines, according to the flightradar24 website.
Air India’s chairman, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, said at the moment “our primary focus is on supporting all the affected people and their families.”
He said on X that the airline had set up an emergency center and support team for families seeking information about those who were on the flight.
“Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the families and loved ones of all those affected by this devastating event,” he said.
British Cabinet minister Lucy Powell said the government will provide “all the support that it can” to those affected by the crash.
“This is an unfolding story, and it will undoubtedly be causing a huge amount of worry and concern to the many, many families and communities here and those waiting for the arrival of their loved ones,” she told lawmakers in the House of Commons.
“We send our deepest sympathy and thoughts to all those families, and the government will provide all the support that it can with those in India and those in this country as well,” she added.
Britain has very close ties with India. There were nearly 1.9 million people in the country of Indian descent, according to the 2021 U.K. census.
Rescuers work at the site of an airplane that crashed in India’s northwestern city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat state, Thursday, June 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)
The last major passenger plane crash in India was in 2020 when an Air India Express Boeing-737 skidded off a hilltop runway in southern India, killing 21 people.
The worst air disaster in India was on Nov. 12, 1996, when a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight collided midair with a Kazakhastan Airlines Flight near Charki Dadri in Haryana state, killing all 349 on board the two planes.
The crash comes days before the opening of the Paris Air Show, a major aviation expo where Boeing and European rival Airbus will showcase their aircraft and battle for jet orders from airline customers.
Boeing has been in recovery mode for more than six years after Lion Air Flight 610, a Boeing 737 Max 8, plunged into the Java Sea off the coast of Indonesia minutes after takeoff from Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board. Five months later, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a Boeing 737 Max 8, crashed after takeoff from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing 157 passengers and crew members…. อ่านข่าวต้นฉบับได้ที่ : https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/international/2025/06/12/air-india-passenger-plane-with-244-aboard-crashes-after-takeoff-from-ahmedabad/