New Delhi, June 12 (EFE).- An Air India Boeing 787 aircraft with 242 people on board crashed on Thursday in the city of Ahmedabad, in western India, while an official report on casualties are yet to be released.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) identified the aircraft as a Boeing 787 with registration VT-ANB, which operated the AI-171 flight between Ahmedabad and Gatwick Airport in London. There were 230 engers, two pilots and 10 cabin crew on board.
The plane was being flown by Sumeet Sabharwal, an experienced Line Training Captain with 8,200 hours of flying experience, with Clive Kundar, having 1,100 hours of flying experience, as his co-pilot, the regulatory agency said.
According to the air traffic controllers, the flight took off from the runway at 1.39pm local time, and soon issued the distress call “MAYDAY,” but did not respond again to communications thereafter before crashing.
A dense column of black smoke was visible at the accident site in the Meghaninagar area, while authorities cordoned off several roads leading to the airport to facilitate access for rescue teams.
“The flight, which departed from Ahmedabad at 1338 hrs, was carrying 242 engers and crew on board the Boeing 787-8 aircraft. Of these, 169 are Indian nationals, 53 are British nationals, 1 Canadian national and 7 Portuguese nationals,” Air India said in a post on social media platform X.
“The injured are being taken to the nearest hospitals. We have also set up a dedicated enger hotline number 1800 5691 444 to provide more information. Air India is giving its full cooperation to the authorities investigating this incident,” it added.
The Chief Minister of Gujarat state – whose capital is Ahmedabad -, Bhupendra Patel, expressed his grief over the accident on X and said he had given instructions for immediate rescue and emergency relief operations.
Federal Home Minister Amit Shah offered “full ” from the central government to Patel and ordered the deployment of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams for collaboration in the rescue work.
The plane was scheduled to land at Gatwick airport in the British capital at 6.25pm local time. EFE
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