Ahmedabad : More than 110 people were killed when an Air India plane bound for London with 242 people on board crashed minutes after taking off from India’s western city of Ahmedabad on Thursday,
The plane was headed for Gatwick Airport, south of the British capital, Air India said, while police officers said it crashed in a residential area near the airport.
Flight AI 171, operating from Ahmedabad to London was “involved in an incident”. The plane crashed into a hostel for doctors of a medical college at 1:30 pm, officials said.
According to officials, the pilot sent a mayday call, and then there was no response after that to repeated calls from the air traffic controller. Visuals from the crash site showed a thick plume of grey smoke rising from the ground. At least two dozen ambulances have arrived, and some have taken the injured people to a nearby hospital. The police have diverted traffic from the area.
Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said he is personally monitoring the situation and directed all aviation and emergency response agencies to take swift action.
“The building on which it has crashed is a doctors’ hostel, we have cleared almost 70% to 80% of the area and will clear the rest soon,” a senior police officer told reporters.
Parts of the plane’s body were scattered around the building into which it crashed, photographs and videos from the area showed. The tail of the plane was stuck on top of the building.
Recommended for you
-
450
Leave a Reply
Leave a Reply
Posted in: National News, News, top-featured, Tragedy
