Passenger Plane Crashes in Western India

An Air India plane with 242 people on board crashed Thursday near a major international airport in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, the airline and the country’s government said.

Air India confirmed that its Flight 171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick Airport had been involved in “an incident” on Thursday. Based to Flightradar24, a flight tracking database, the aircraft was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner.

The plane had been scheduled to land in London at 6:25 p.m., London Gatwick Airport said on social media.

According to aviation tracker FlightRadar24, Air India flight AI171 was scheduled to depart from Ahmedabad International airport bound for London Gatwick at 9.50 a.m. local time. The signal from the aircraft was lost at 10.08 a.m. local time (12.38 a.m. ET) at 625 feet, less than a minute after takeoff, according to FlightRadar24 data.

“Shocked and devastated to learn about the flight crash in Ahmedabad,” said Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu, India’s civil aviation minister said in a post on X. “I am personally monitoring the situation and have directed all aviation and emergency response agencies to take swift and coordinated action.”