[Telegraph] – More than 50 Britons are feared dead after an Air India flight bound for London crashed shortly after take-off.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was engulfed in a huge fireball after plummeting into a building in the suburb of Ahmedabad, the largest city in Gujarat state.
The flight, with 242 people onboard including 53 British nationals, was en route to Gatwick airport. Among the passengers were 11 children.
More than 100 bodies have been brought to hospital, police said. They added there appeared to be no survivors.
Mobile phone footage showed the plane flying low over the city before hitting the ground and bursting into flames. Indian police said the jet struck a hostel that was used by local doctors. Part of the plane’s fuselage was seen sticking out from the building. Plumes of thick black smoke could be seen rising over the city.
Some survivors were pulled from the wreckage of surrounding buildings and taken away in ambulances. It is not clear if any passengers survived the crash although authorities declined at an early stage to confirm any fatalities. It is reported at least 30 bodies had been recovered from the building at the site of the crash.
Air India said 169 Indian nationals, seven Portuguese and one Canadian were also on board.
Raju Prajapati, who lives just a few hundred metres from the crash site, told The Telegraph: “We heard a huge explosion and rushed out of our homes. There were thick plumes of black smoke rising into the sky. People were shouting and running in all directions.” He said the smoke remained visible more than a mile away.
The cause of the crash is unclear. Boeing has been involved in a series of incidents in recent years, including fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019, but the Dreamliner has never crashed in 14 years of service.
Food remains on the tables of a hostel for doctors in the wake of the plane crash
The plane’s pilot Captain Sumeet Sabharwal is described as a highly experienced pilot with 8,200 hours of flying experience.
According to air traffic control at Ahmedabad airport, the airliner took off at 1.39pm local time (9.09am BST) from runway 23.
It gave a “mayday” call, signalling an emergency, but there was no response from the aircraft thereafter.
The crash threatens to be one of the single worst losses of life of Britons in a plane crash. Fifty-four British citizens died when Pan Am flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie en route to the US in 1988.
Sir Keir Starmer said: “The scenes emerging of a London-bound plane carrying many British nationals crashing in the Indian city of Ahmedabad are devastating.
“I am being kept updated as the situation develops, and my thoughts are with the passengers and their families at this deeply distressing time.”
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