What we know so far after Air India flight to London Gatwick crashes

At least 242 people were on board the flight when it crashed shortly after take-off in the northwestern Indian city of Ahmedabad.

Local police initially said there appeared to be no survivors. The Reuters news agency report that at least 204 bodies have been recovered from the crash site.

But Sky News has confirmed that Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a British national, survived the plane crash in Ahmedabad this morning.

Here is all we know so far.

Where did the plane crash?

Air India Flight AI171 took off from Ahmedabad Airport at 1.38pm local time on Thursday.

According to flight-tracking website Flightradar, the aircraft reached a height of 625ft before crashing. The last signal from the plane was received less than a minute after take-off.

The aircraft crashed into a residential area called Meghaninagar, Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, the director general of the directorate of civil aviation, told the Associated Press.

It came down just outside the airport, hitting the residential quarters of BJ Medical College.

City police chief G.S. Malik said 204 bodies have been recovered from the crash site, according to the Reuters news agency.

They said the figure could include passengers and those who died on the ground from impact.

At least 30 bodies were recovered from a building at the site of the crash, Reuters reported, citing rescue workers at the site.

More people were trapped inside the building, the workers said.

The tail of the plane has been pictured protruding from a building, while the wings were ripped completely from the main body of the aircraft.

Images from the scene showed people being carried in stretchers and taken away in ambulances.

Who was on board?

Air India said of the 242 passengers and crew on the plane, 53 were British nationals, 169 were Indian nationals, seven were Portuguese and one person was Canadian.

The injured have been taken to the nearest hospitals.

An airport spokesperson said all flights to and from Ahmedabad have been suspended. 

Survivor of the crash, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, described the moment the plane went down to the Hindustan Times newspaper.

The British national said he heard a "loud noise" around 30 seconds after take-off before the plane went down.

"It all happened so quickly," he said, adding he had received "impact injuries" on his chest, eyes and feet.

He told Indian media he had lived in London for 20 years and that his brother Ajay was seated in a different row on the plane.

Separate footage shared on social media showed a man limping away from the crash site and being led towards emergency services.

Air India said it has "set up a dedicated passenger hotline number 1800 5691 444 to provide more information".

A separate passenger hotline for foreign nationals has also been set up by the airline on +91 8062779200.

The flight had been due to land at London Gatwick at 6.25pm UK time.

What caused the crash?

It is unknown at this stage what caused the crash.

The aircraft was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. The American aircraft manufacturer which makes the plane, said it is in contact with Air India and "stands ready to support them".

Aviation expert Julian Bray told Sky News that he understands the pilot of Flight AI171 managed to make a mayday call before the crash.

This would mean the crew was aware of a problem before the incident happened.

A mayday call is an internationally recognised distress signal used in radio communication. It indicates an imminent danger and the need for immediate assistance.

Sky News' science correspondent Thomas Moore said investigators will now be studying the video and the two black boxes recording cockpit conversations and technical data to try to understand why the crash occurred.

"It's possible there was an engine failure of some kind, perhaps caused by a catastrophic mechanical fault. But the plane is designed to be able to fly with one engine, even at take-off, so something else would have to go wrong too," he said

"Both engines could have failed if they sucked in a flock of birds as the plane took off. It's happened in other air crashes."

How has the UK responded?

Sir Keir Starmer said the scenes emerging from the site of the crash in Ahmedabad are "devastating".

The prime minister said he is being kept updated as the situation develops. Buckingham Palace said King Charles is also being briefed on the crash.

In a statement, the King said: "My wife and I have been desperately shocked by the terrible events in Ahmedabad this morning.

"Our special prayers and deepest possible sympathy are with the families and friends of all those affected by this appallingly tragic incident across so many nations, as they await news of their loved ones."

The UK's Foreign Office said it is currently "working with local authorities in India to urgently establish the facts and provide support to those involved".

Britons who have concerns may call 0207 008 5000, the Foreign Office added.

The UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch has also deployed four investigators to help the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau in India with its investigation into the crash.

What has India said?

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the plane crash was "heartbreaking beyond words".

"The tragedy in Ahmedabad has stunned and saddened us," he said.

"In this sad hour, my thoughts are with everyone affected by it."

The country's civil aviation minister said he is "shocked and devastated".

While the boss of Air India, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, said: "Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the families and loved ones of all those affected by this devastating event."

Previous plane crashes in India

Air India, which started operations in 1932, and its subsidiary Air India Express have suffered several fatal crashes.

According to Aviation Safety Network (ASN) the most recent fatal crash was in August 2020, when Boeing 737-800 (Air India Express) overshot the runway in Karipur, India, rolled down an embankment and broke up, killing 21 people.

Air India, the country's flagship carrier, is a private company, majority owned by the Indian conglomerate Tata Group and minority owned by Singapore Airlines.

Since October, Air India Group has been 25.1% owned by Singapore Airlines, with the remaining owned privately by Tata. At that time, four Tata-owned airlines merged with another airline, Vistara.

The airline operates more than 5,600 weekly flights and connects more than 90 domestic and international destinations with a fleet of 208 aircraft.

It flies more than 120,000 passengers every day and offers connectivity to over 800 destinations through more than 75 partners.

It was founded in 1932 and was owned by the Indian government from 1953 to 2022.

Because Air India is private, it doesn't publish the kinds of financial and operational information that public airlines, like Ryanair or Air France-KLM, do.

It also means we can't easily track its share price value, which is not publicly traded or visible.

Similarly, the part of Tata that owns Air India isn't publicly listed, so we don't have a stock price representation of how investors are digesting this information.

Non-fatal incidents have happened as recently as this year. In January, an Airbus A320-251N suffered an engine shutdown after departing Bangalore and landed safely at the same location, according to The Times of India.

Boeing shares fell nearly 8% in premarket US trading on Thursday, after the crash in Ahmedabad.

-SKY NEWS