AHMEDABAD, India: Rescuers searched for missing people and aircraft debris in charred buildings in Ahmedabad on Friday after more than 240 people were killed in an Air India Boeing 787 crash, and as local media reported that India was considering grounding the airline’s 787 fleet for safety checks.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with 242 people on board bound for Gatwick Airport south of London took off over a residential area and disappeared from view before a huge fireball was seen rising into the sky from beyond the houses, CCTV footage showed.
Only one passenger survived after the plane crashed onto a medical college hostel during lunch hour, with local media reporting as many as 24 people on the ground were also killed. Reuters could not immediately verify the number.
Rescue workers had completed combing the crash site and were now searching for missing people and bodies in the buildings as well as for aircraft parts that could help explain why the plane crashed soon after taking off.
Local media reported that one of two black boxes from the 787 had been found. Reuters could not verify the reports, which also did not say whether it was the flight data recorder or the cockpit voice recorder that had been recovered.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefed by officials on the progress of rescue operations when he visited the crash site in his home state of Gujarat on Friday. Modi also met some of the injured being treated in hospital.
“The scene of devastation is saddening,” he said in a post on X.
Residents living in the vicinity said that construction of the hostel for resident doctors was completed only a year ago and the buildings were not fully occupied.
“We were at home and heard a massive sound, it appeared like a big blast. We then saw very dark smoke which engulfed the entire area,” said 63-year-old Nitin Joshi, who has been living in the area for more than 50 years.
Parts of the plane’s fuselage were scattered around the smoldering building into which it crashed. The tail of the plane was wedged on top of the building.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing unnamed sources, that an investigation into the crash was focusing on “whether the aircraft had a loss or reduction in engine thrust.”
India’s NDTV reported that New Delhi was considering grounding Air India’s Dreamliner fleet for safety checks. Air India has more than 30 Dreamliners that include the Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 versions.
Modern, wide-body jet
It was the first crash for the Dreamliner since the wide-body jet 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.
Air India, Boeing and India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the NDTV report on the possible grounding of the fleet.
The lone survivor, a British national, told Indian media how he had heard a loud noise shortly after Flight AI171 took off.
India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said he is in touch with foreign ministers of Britain, Portugal and Canada after citizens from their countries were killed in the crash.
Global leaders have expressed their condolences, including China’s President Xi Jinping who sent his message to India’s president, prime minister and Britain’s King Charles on Friday.
The passengers included 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese and one Canadian.
Air India has said the investigation would take time. Planemaker Boeing has said a team of experts is ready to go to India to help in the probe.
Vidhi Chaudhary, a top state police officer, said on Thursday the death toll was more than 240, revising down a previous toll of 294 because it included body parts that had been counted twice.
“Almost 70 percent of the passengers were found in their seats, most of them had their seatbelts on,” a first responder told local newspaper Indian Express.
The last fatal plane crash in India, the world’s third-largest aviation market and its fastest-growing, was in 2020 and involved Air India Express, the airline’s low-cost arm.
In an unrelated incident, an Air India flight from Phuket in Thailand headed to Delhi made an emergency landing on Friday after a bomb threat was received on board, airport authorities said.
Indian conglomerate Tata Group took control of the formerly state-owned Air India in 2022, and merged it with Vistara — a joint venture between the group and Singapore Airlines – last year.
