A single passenger has survived the fiery crash of an Air India passenger plane, killing more than 240 people bound for London and others on the ground.
More than 240 people have been killed when an Air India plane bound for London crashed moments after taking off from the city of Ahmedabad, in the world’s worst aviation disaster in a decade.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, with 242 people on board, which was headed for Gatwick Airport, south of the British capital, had only one survivor on Thursday after it crashed onto a medical college hostel during lunch hour.
The sole survivor is a British national of Indian origin and was being treated in hospital, the airline confirmed.
The man told Indian media how he had heard a loud noise shortly after Flight AI171 took off.
“We are still verifying the number of dead, including those killed in the building where the plane crashed,” Vidhi Chaudhary, a top state police officer, told Reuters.
She said the death toll was more than 240, revising down a previous toll of 294 as it included body parts that had been double-counted.
It was not immediately clear how many of the dead had been on the aircraft or on the ground.
The only known surviving passenger was in seat 11A, next to an emergency exit, Chaudhary said, adding there could be more survivors in hospital.
“Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed,” 40-year-old Ramesh Viswashkumar told the Hindustan Times, which showed a boarding pass for seat 11A in that name online.
“It all happened so quickly,” he told the paper from his hospital bed.
“When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me,” he said.
“Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital.”
He said that his brother, Ajay, was seated in a different row on the plane.
“He was travelling with me and I can’t find him any more. Please help me find him,” he said.
Ahmedabad police chief GS Malik said the bodies recovered could include both passengers and people killed on the ground.
Relatives had been asked to give DNA samples to identify the dead, state health secretary Dhananjay Dwivedi said.
Parts of the plane’s fuselage were scattered around the smouldering building into which it crashed, and the tail was stuck on top.
The passengers included 217 adults, 11 children and two infants, a source told Reuters.
Air India said 169 were Indian nationals, 53 were Britons, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian.
It was the first crash for the Dreamliner, a wide-body airliner that began flying commercially in 2011, according to the Aviation Safety Network database.
The plane that crashed on Thursday flew for the first time in 2013 and was delivered to Air India in January 2014, Flightradar24 said.
CCTV footage showed the plane taking off over a residential area and then disappearing from the screen before a huge fireball could be seen rising into the sky from beyond the houses.
According to air traffic control at Ahmedabad Airport, the aircraft made a mayday call, but thereafter there was no response from the aircraft.
The tragedy in Ahmedabad has stunned and saddened us. It is heartbreaking beyond words. In this sad hour, my thoughts are with everyone affected by it. Have been in touch with Ministers and authorities who are working to assist those affected.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 12, 2025
Indian Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said a formal investigation had begun by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau.
The US transportation secretary said the Federal Aviation Administration was working with Boeing and GE in the investigation.
Britain was also working with Indian authorities to establish the facts around the crash, the country’s foreign office said.
“The tragedy in Ahmedabad has stunned and saddened us,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on X about the crash in his home state, calling it “heartbreaking beyond words”.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said images of the crash were “devastating”, while US President Donald Trump called the crash “terrible”.
