Air India Flight AI171 From Ahmedabad to London Crashes After Takeoff With 242 Passengers

A terrible accident has just occurred in India as news confirms that an Air India flight has crashed shortly after departure from Ahmedabad Airport to London-Gatwick with 242 passengers and crew onboard.

The crash happened right after takeoff at 1:55 pm local time in Ahmedabad in Northwest India, and the flight was operated with a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which went down, and then a huge fireball was visible from far away.

According to news reports, some bodies have already been recovered from the crash site, but there is little hope of survivors given the scope of the accident, and since the aircraft went down in a residential and commercial area near the airport, there might be victims on the ground as well.

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From the looks of it, the pilots had not much of a chance to recover this flight, they were able to give a “Mayday” call before eventually crashing in the residential area.

This is the path of Air India AI171 from FlightAware; however, due to radar tracking over India being restricted, the flight path is not accurate and is based on estimated data:

The aircraft was observed from the ground when it went down and exploded shortly after:

It’s hard to say if the pilot was trying to turn around or just pull up to gain lift, either of which proved to be unsuccessful.

Debris is now visible on the ground:

Air India has released the following statement via X:

Air India confirms that flight AI171, from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, was involved in an accident today after take-off.

The flight, which departed from Ahmedabad at 1338 hrs, was carrying 242 passengers and crew members on board the Boeing 787-8 aircraft.

Of these, 169 are Indian nationals, 53 are British nationals, 1 Canadian national and 7 Portuguese nationals. The injured are being taken to the nearest hospitals.

We have also set up a dedicated passenger hotline number 1800 5691 444 to provide more information. Air India is giving its full cooperation to the authorities investigating this incident.

Air India will release further information via regular updates on its X handle (https://x.com/airindia) and on http://airindia.com. 

The statement breaks down the demographics of the passengers, which include Indian, British, Canadian, and Portuguese nationals.

Aside from the 242 passengers, there might be fatalities on the ground as well. Currently, no reports are available about possible survivors, only that some bodies have been recovered from the scene.

This story is developing and I will update as things become clearer.

Conclusion

Air India flight AI171 departed this afternoon, June 12, 2025, and crashed shortly after takeoff in a residential area of Ahmedabad in Northwest India.

All that is known right now is that there were 242 passengers and crew onboard. The aircraft was a Boeing 787-800 Dreamliner, and emergency services are responding to the scene for the recovery effort.

It looks horrible and the number of fatalities will be very high. Let’s keep all the victims and their loved ones of this tragic accident in our thoughts. RIP!

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