An Air India plane, identified as flight AI171, It has crashed Shortly after taking off from Sardar Vallebhbhai Ahmedabad airport in the state of Gujarat, bound for London (Gatwick).
The plane, with VT -Anb registration and approximately 230 passengers plus 12 crew members on board, lost signal from the radar to an altitude close to 625 feet (around 190 m) It crashed in the residential area of Meghani Nagarnear the perimeter fence of the airport. After the call of “Mayday”, the aircraft did not respond to communications and rushed to the ground, where, after impacting, a dense column of black smoke was observed.
The 242 people on board have died
The authorities have confirmed that The 242 people who were aboard the plane have died. In addition to at least 5 dead and 25 injured in the student residence where it has crashed.
The airline has confirmed that The passengers were 169 Indians, 53 British, 7 Portuguese and 1 Canadian. In total 217 adults and 11 children.
Videos disseminated in social networks show an intense column of black smoke rising from the Meghani Nagar area, a neighborhood near the airport, where the impact was held.
The local authorities, including police, firefighters and rescue equipmentwere rapidly deployed on the scene, together with units of the NDRF (National Disaster Response Force), which came from Gandhinagar and Vadodara. The authorities have cut several of the roads that lead to the airport to facilitate the work of emergency services. The rescue is complicated taking into account that the plane has exploded because it was loaded with fuel.
The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, affirms that the images of the accident are “devastating”, and sends his “condolences to passengers and their families in this distressing moment.”
