UPDATED: Major disaster as London-bound passenger plane carrying more than 240 people crashes after take-off in India

An Air India plane headed to London with 242 people on board crashed minutes after taking off from India’s western city of Ahmedabad on Thursday, the airline and police said, without specifying whether there were any fatalities.

The plane was headed to Gatwick airport in the UK, Air India said, while police officers said it crashed in a civilian area near the airport.

What type of plane crashed?

Air India has confirmed that the plane that crashed is Flight AI171, which was traveling from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad to London Gatwick.

According to India’s aviation regulator, the flight departed today at 1:39 p.m. local time and was meant to arrive in the UK in over nine hours.

Reports claim that it’s an Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which can normally carry a total of 248 passengers.

How many people were on the Air India plane?

Air India has confirmed that a total of 242 passengers and crew were aboard the flight that crashed on June 12, 2025.

The flight carried 53 British nationals, 169 Indian nationals, one Canadian, and seven Portuguese nationals.

The statement claims that injured people are being “taken to the nearest hospitals,” but there’s no official confirmation how many fatalities there were yet.

The plane was piloted by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, who had 8,200 hours of flying experience, and co-pilot Clive Kundar, who had 1,100 hours of flying experience. There were also 10 crew members onboard.

A leaked passenger list allegedly detailing the names of those aboard, shared by an Indian news agency, suggests that a former politician and several children were among those onboard. The list could not be independently verified.

Where did the plane crash?

The plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad, a city in western India, in the state of Gujarat.

It’s understood that the incident occurred in the Meghani Nagar area of the city, a residential area that’s just beyond the runway.

Reports reveal that the plane actually crashed into a dining room of a medical college, where many students were having lunch at the time of the incident.

“The building on which it has crashed is a doctors’ hostel… we have cleared almost 70% to 80% of the area and will clear the rest soon,” a police officer working at the scene told local reporters.

It’s understood that some fatalities have been reported among people who were in the dining hall at the time of the crash, with at least 35 bodies recovered from the building. It’s unclear whether these people were from the plane or from the dining room.

Why did the Air India plane crash?

It’s too early to tell at this point why the passenger plane crashed; however, aviation teams are thought to be investigating the incident.

India’s aviation regulator, DGCA, said in a statement that the aircraft issued a mayday call but then stopped responding and crashed immediately after takeoff.

Where is Ahmedabad?

Ahmedabad is the state capital of Gujarat, in the northwestern region of India.

It’s 500km north of Mumbai and thought to be home to more than 7m people..