Search continues for victims and wreckage after Air India crash claims over 240 lives

Rescue operations continued on June 13 as teams searched for survivors and remnants of the aircraft that crashed in Ahmedabad, India, killing over 240 people in what is now considered the deadliest aviation disaster globally in the past ten years.

The Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, en route to London’s Gatwick Airport with 242 people onboard, slammed into a medical college hostel during lunchtime. Only one person survived the crash.

Casualties were reported not only among those on the plane but also on the ground, with local media estimating up to 24 deaths in the hostel. However, that number had not yet been independently confirmed. Authorities stated that search efforts for missing individuals around the crash site remained ongoing, according to a Reuters report.

Rescue crews worked through the night and into the morning of June 13, combing through the debris in an effort to locate missing parts of the aircraft that could provide clues as to what caused the crash shortly after takeoff.

One of the plane’s black boxes had been recovered, though the report did not clarify whether it was the flight data recorder or cockpit voice recorder. 

Witnesses noted that the hostel building, intended for resident doctors, was completed only a year ago and was not yet fully occupied.

“We were at home when we heard an enormous noise—it sounded like a huge explosion. A cloud of thick black smoke engulfed the area,” said Nitin Joshi, a 63-year-old resident who has lived in the neighbourhood for more than five decades.

Indian media footage captured the aircraft ascending over a densely populated area before vanishing from view, followed moments later by a massive fireball erupting beyond the residential buildings.

Debris, including fragments of the fuselage, littered the area surrounding the still-burning building. The aircraft’s tail section was visibly lodged atop the structure.

Air India confirmed that the sole survivor, a British citizen, is currently hospitalised. The survivor described to Indian media how a loud sound was heard soon after Flight AI171 departed.

Senior police official Vidhi Chaudhary updated the death toll to over 240, correcting an earlier figure of 294 that had mistakenly included some body parts more than once.

Among the deceased was Vijay Rupani, the former chief minister of Gujarat, where Ahmedabad is the largest city.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is originally from Gujarat, visited the crash site. Air India’s CEO Campbell Wilson also arrived early Friday.

Air India stated that the investigation will require significant time, while aircraft manufacturer Boeing announced it would send a team of experts to India to support the probe.

According to the Aviation Safety Network, this marks the first crash involving a Dreamliner—a wide-body jet that entered commercial service in 2011.

Flightradar24 reported that the aircraft involved had made its first flight in 2013 and was delivered to Air India in January 2014.

India, currently the world’s third-largest and fastest-growing aviation market, last experienced a fatal airline accident in 2020, when an Air India Express flight crashed.

Air India, formerly state-run, was acquired by the Tata Group in 2022 and merged with Vistara, a joint venture between Tata and Singapore Airlines, in 2024.

By Tamilla Hasanova