'Many of the bodies were burned': Black smoke rises over the scene of the Air India plane crash

Local police have said there appear to be no survivors.

LAST UPDATE | 12 Jun 2025

THICK BLACK PLUMES of acrid smoke towered high above India’s Ahmedabad airport today after a London-bound passenger jet with 242 people aboard crashed shortly after takeoff.

There was only one survivor.

Several videos posted on social media showed an aircraft, nose up, rapidly losing altitude over a residential area before it hit a building and exploded in a ball of fire.

An AFP reporter in the city said the plane crashed in an area between a hospital and the city’s Ghoda Camp neighbourhood.

Authorities said it went down outside the airport perimeter, in a crowded residential area, which local media said included a hostel where medical students and young doctors live.

Footage shows the tail of an Air India plane wedged in a roof following a crash in Ahmedabad.

There were 53 Britons on board the plane when it crashed, according to the airline and 169 are Indians, seven are Portuguese and one is Canadian.https://t.co/l0D4ENcdm6 pic.twitter.com/e74Pn4St5W
— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 12, 2025

City police chief G.S. Malik said 204 bodies have been recovered from the crash site.

They said the figure could include passengers and those who died on the ground from impact.

the-tail-of-the-airplane-is-seen-stuck-in-a-building-at-the-site-of-an-airplane-that-crashed-in-indias-northwestern-city-of-ahmedabad-in-gujarat-state-thursday-june-12-2025-ap-photoajit-solanki The tail of the airplane is seen stuck in a building at the site of the crash. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Images of the aftermath of the crash showed parts of the plane embedded into a residential building as firefighters continued to tackle the smoke.

Pieces of the aircraft’s landing gear, fuselage and tail could all be seen protruding from the building.

250612-ahmadabad-june-12-2025-xinhua-people-look-at-the-debris-of-an-air-india-plane-crashed-in-ahmedabad-of-indias-gujarat-state-june-12-2025-an-air-india-flight-to-london-with-242-pe People look at debris from the plane crash in Ahmedabad Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

“When we reached the spot there were several bodies lying around and firefighters were dousing the flames,” Poonam Patni told the AFP news agency.

Many of the bodies were burned.

Another resident, who declined to be named, said: “We saw people from the building jumping from the second and third floor to save themselves. The plane was in flames.

“We helped people get out of the building and sent the injured to the hospital.”

Air India’s flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for London’s Gatwick Airport, crashed shortly after takeoff around 1:40 pm (local time), officials said.

The passengers included 169 Indian nationals, 53 British, seven Portuguese, and a Canadian. Two pilots and 10 cabin crew were also aboard.

VIDEO | Ahmedabad Plane Crash: Latest visuals from the crash site of the Gatwick (London)-bound Air India Boeing 787-8, which was carrying 242 passengers and crew and nosedived shortly after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport this afternoon.

(Full video… pic.twitter.com/XBN2dbsAmk
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) June 12, 2025

‘Massive sound’

At the crash site, firefighters could be seen trying to control flames on the burning plane debris that also charred trees.

One video, from social media posted by the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency, showed what appeared to be a chunk of fuselage – larger than a car – that had smashed onto the roof of a multi-storey building.

250612-ahmadabad-june-12-2025-xinhua-people-look-at-the-debris-of-an-air-india-plane-crashed-in-ahmedabad-of-indias-gujarat-state-june-12-2025-an-air-india-flight-to-london-with-242-pe People look at the debris of an Air India plane crashed in Ahmedabad Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Photographs released by India’s Central Industrial Security Force, a paramilitary police force, showed a large chunk of the plane that had smashed through the brick and concrete wall of a building.

“I was at home when we heard a massive sound,” one Ahmedabad resident told PTI.

“When we went out to see what had happened, there was a layer of thick smoke in the air. When we came here, dead bodies and debris from the crashed aircraft were scattered all over.”

Outside Ahmedabad airport, a woman wailing inconsolably in grief said that five of her relatives had been aboard the plane.

For updates, you can follow our live blog here.

With reporting from AFP and Press Association