AHMEDABAD, India — An Air India passenger plane bound for London crashed into a medical college in Ahmedabad after takeoff Thursday, killing at least 240 people in one of India’s worst airline disasters in decades, officials said.
Vidhi Chaudhary, a top state police officer in the northwestern city of Ahmedabad, said medical students who were in a college hostel when the plane hit the building are among the dead.
“Most of the bodies have been charred beyond recognition,” she said.
Indian Home Minister Amit Shah confirmed that a single passenger survived the crash and he met him at the hospital. A doctor said he had examined the survivor, whom he identified as Vishwashkumar Ramesh.
“He was disoriented with multiple injuries all over his body,” Dr. Dhaval Gameti told The Associated Press. “But he seems to be out of danger.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on X that he was “saddened to learn of the tragic Air India crash that has taken the lives of 242 men, women and children. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the fallen.”
President Isaac Herzog wrote that his “thoughts are with the victims’ families and all those grieving across India and around the world following the devastating plane crash in Ahmedabad. In this time of mourning, we send our support to the brave rescue services, and stand in solidarity with President Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the people of India.”
Black smoke billowed from the site where the plane crashed and burst into flames near the airport in Ahmedabad, a city of more than 5 million and the capital of Gujarat, 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 multistory buildings with water. Charred bodies lay on the ground and parts of the fuselage were scattered around the site. Indian army teams were assisting civil authorities to clear debris and help treat the injured.
A video on social media showed the jet slowly descending as if it were landing. As soon as it disappeared out of view behind rows of houses, a giant fireball filled the sky. The AP was able to verify the video by matching up the flight path of the plane from the runway with the crash site and the nearby residential area.
At the crash site, the tail cone of the aircraft with damaged stabilizer fins still attached to it was lodged near the top of one of the buildings.
In a social media post, Modi called the crash “heartbreaking beyond words” and said, “My thoughts are with everyone affected.”
Sambit Patra, a lawmaker from Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, said Gujarat’s former chief minister, Vijay Rupani, was among the dead.
Divyansh Singh, vice president of the Federation of All India Medical Association, said at least five students from the medical college were killed on the ground and 50 others were injured. Singh said some of them were in critical condition and many people are “feared buried in the debris.”
Air India said the flight bound for London Gatwick Airport was carrying 242 passengers and crew, with 169 Indians, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese and one Canadian aboard. The Boeing 787-8 crashed into a residential area called Meghani Nagar five minutes after taking off at 1:38 p.m. (08:08 GMT), Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, the director general of the Directorate of Civil Aviation, told AP.
This is the first crash of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, according to the Aviation Safety Network database. Boeing said it was “working to gather more information.”
India’s aviation regulatory body said the aircraft gave a mayday call, signaling an emergency, but then did not respond to the calls made by the airport traffic control.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the crash “devastating,” and 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 to those in India and those in this country as well,” she added.
Condolences also poured in from King Charles III, who said he and his wife, Queen Camilla, were “desperately shocked” by the crash.
“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,” he said in a statement.