Moments Before Air India Plane Crashes After Takeoff, Carrying 242 Passengers

Kapanlagi.com - A Air India plane carrying 242 passengers to London Gatwick crashed today shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad Airport in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed in the Meghani area of the city just minutes after leaving the runway.

Horrific images shared on social media show thick smoke billowing from the crash site near the international airport this morning. Debris from the fuselage and tail was also seen protruding from the destroyed buildings.

The cause of the crash is still unknown, but a video uploaded to social media appears to show the plane descending in a controlled manner, with a high nose angle and landing gear extended.

According to Hindustan Times, Thursday (12/6), emergency responders are heading to the site in hopes of finding survivors, but the scale of the damage seen in the initial images suggests the possibility of many casualties. Indian news agency ANI reported that police sources confirmed 242 people were on board the flight.

Air India issued a brief post-accident statement on X: "Flight AI171, route Ahmedabad-London Gatwick, experienced an incident today, June 12, 2025. We are currently verifying details and will share further updates as soon as possible."

1. The Cause of the Air India Accident is Still Under Investigation

Gatwick Airport then confirmed that the flight scheduled to land at 18:25 today had crashed during departure. Flight tracking service FlightRadar24 stated that the aircraft's transponder signal was lost just seconds after takeoff.

"We received the last signal from the aircraft at 08:08:51 UTC, just a few seconds after takeoff," it said.

This tragedy is the latest in a series of disasters involving Boeing jets and occurred just six months after the 737 crash in South Korea that killed 179 people.

In October 2018, Lion Air Flight 610 crashed into the Java Sea shortly after taking off from Jakarta, Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board.

Then, in March 2019, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed minutes after departing from Addis Ababa, resulting in the deaths of 157 passengers and crew.

(kpl/ums)