Air India Plane Crash in Ahmedabad: Centre sets up high-level probe panel; report expected within 3 months

Among the 241 people who perished in Thursday’s Air India crash in Ahmedabad, including two pilots and 10 crew members, one was from Pimpri Chinchwad. Close relatives of Irfan Shaikh, 22, a crew member, rushed to Ahmedabad and identified his body soon after the incident but are still waiting to take possession of it.

“In the Ahmedabad plane crash, Irfan Shaikh, brother of Aamir Shaikh, who lives in Pimpri, has been identified as the deceased. The Shaikh family has travelled to Ahmedabad to claim the body. Although the body has been identified, there is delay in further process (sic)…,” Irfan’s relative Azhar Shaikh said in a social media post.

Irfan had joined Air India two years ago as a cabin crew member. “He was earlier with Vistara which merged with Air India,” his uncle Javed Shaikh told this paper.

The Shaikh family has been living in the Sant Tukaram area for more than 40 years. Irfan has an elder brother. He did his schooling from Dr D Y Patil High School, which was located close to his residence, before completing Class 11 and 12 at Jai Hind School, Pimpri... continue reading

They were good people…didn’t deserve this, shared a heart broken Kuldeep Bhatt, who along with his cousin Prabuddha Vyas had arrived in Ahmedabad from Rajasthan’s Banswara to inquire about their family members — the doctor couple along with their three children — who died in the Gatwick-bound Air India flight, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, that crashed within minutes of take off and burst into flames.

On Friday noon, Vyas and Bhatt were at Ahmedabad’s Meghaninagar police station inquiring about the belongings of their family members — radiologist Dr Pratik Joshi (46), his wife Dr Komi Vyas (39), their elder daughter Miraya (8), and five-year-old twins — Nakul and Pradyut. The two men had reached the police station, located about 2 km from the crash site, after Prabuddha Vyas, the younger sibling of Dr Komi, submitted his DNA samples at the Kasauti Bhavan of BJ Medical College in Ahmedabad Civil Hospital.

The doctor couple had settled their affairs in India and were permanently immigrating to the United Kingdom. However, their dreams of starting a new chapter were brutally shattered by the fatal crash. Read

Jaiprakash Chaudhary was a person of many firsts. Son of a labourer and a second-year medical student at BJ Medical College and Hospital, he was the first of his family to go to college and, if he had lived, would have been the first doctor in his remote Barmer village of Bor Charanan – something that his family would advertise proudly.

But the 20-year-old’s life was tragically cut short when the London-bound B787 Boeing Dreamliner Air India flight carrying 242 passengers and crew members crashed into the BJ Medical College and Hospital hostel soon after it took off Thursday afternoon. The crash killed 241 of 242 passengers and crew on board and five people at the hostel, four medical students, and a doctor’s wife – all of them in the hostel’s second floor mess at the time of the crash.

Of these, 12 people – 11 on board the plane and Jayprakash – are from Rajasthan.

According to a family member, Jaiprakash had spoken to them just before he went for lunch. He got into the government medical college after scoring 686 out of 720 in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) two years ago. Read

A day after the Air India plane crash, investigators have recovered one of the two black boxes, the Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) from the rooftop of a building near the crash site. The search is still underway for the second black box, the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), with no confirmation on its status yet.

China’s aviation authority announced on Wednesday (March 23) that a flight recorder, commonly known as “black box”, “from China Eastern MU5735 was found”, bringing the first hope of understanding what caused the country’s worst airline disaster in years.

The China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 virtually fell out of the sky on March 21 afternoon, plunging almost vertically from 29,100 feet to 7,850 feet in just over a minute, according to FlightRadar24 data.

Black boxes

These are two large metallic boxes containing recorders that are required to be kept on most aircraft, one in the front and the other in the rear. The recorders record the information about a flight, and help reconstruct the events leading to an aircraft accident. Read

The WhatsApp message was simple, but filled with warmth only family can convey: “Happy journey Harpreet beta.” Those words, sent on a family WhatsApp group on Thursday morning, would become the last blessing Harpreet Kaur Hora (30) would receive before she stepped on the ill-fated Air India flight.

But this wasn’t always the plan. Harpreet originally booked her ticket for June 19, a routine visit to see Robbie, her husband of four years who works in London as a software engineer. But since his birthday fell on June 16, she couldn’t bear the thought of missing it.

And so, she decided to reschedule her flight for June 12, so she could be there for his special day. When the Boeing 787 Dreamliner lifted off from Sardar Vallabhbhai International Airport on Thursday afternoon, Harpreet was seated in 22E. Minutes later, the aircraft crashed in Ahmedabad’s Meghaninagar area.

In another cruel twist of fate, Harpreet had travelled from her IT job in Bangalore to her maternal home in Ahmedabad, where her father was recovering from heart surgery. She chose to fly from Ahmedabad rather than from Bangalore since she wanted to spend time with him, her family said.... Continue reading

Day after the Air India plane crash, National Investigation Agency (NIA) team, along with officials from other central agencies, visited the site of the crash in Ahmedabad on Friday. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has launched an official investigation into the tragedy.

After DNA testing to confirm identities, bodies of six of the 241 victims who died in the Air India plane crash on Thursday were returned to their families, PTI reported the police as saying.

In case of the other bodies, which are partially or fully charred, it will take around 72 hours to complete the exercise of matching their DNA samples, they added.

Sharing a brief clip from the Union Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks, Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera called out the remarks as "insensitive", terming it as an abdication.

"When a plane crashes and people die, the least a Home Minister can offer is a promise of accountability, not a shrug and a lecture on fate. ‘Nobody can stop accidents’ is an abdication. If nothing can be prevented, why do we have ministries at all? Aviation accidents are not acts of God - they are preventable. That’s why we have aviation regulators, safety protocols, and crisis response systems. By the Home Minister’s logic, should we stop investing in safety infrastructure, regulation, or crisis preparedness altogether? Just leave it to fate and call it a day?" Khera wrote on X.

On Thursday evening, Amit Shah was in Ahmedabad to review the situation at the airport and to meet the lone survivor of the crash. “I want to say one thing: it was an accident and no one stopped any accident. But for 365 days, the alertness of all concerned departments will be checked during such incidents. And today, the alertness of the disaster management of the State government was checked in an unfortunate incident. The Centre and the Government of Gujarat are jointly engaged in relief and rescue operations,” he was quoted as saying to mediapersons.

13-year-old Akash was not a passenger on the flight to Ahmedabad-London flight that crashed shortly after takeoff on Thursday. In fact, he had never been on a flight in his short life.

His family had been evicted a fortnight ago, so they were sleeping on a pavement — near the UG hostels of BJ Medical College — when the Boeing 787-8 crashed and claimed his life.

At least 24 people are learnt to have died on the ground, including four medical students and the wife of a doctor. Akash was among them.

Read the full story here

There was only one Canadian citizen who was onboard the ill-fated Ahmedabad-London Air India plane that crashed on Thursday afternoon.

Indian-origin dentist Nirali Patel (32) was travelling back to Canada from a “social trip” in India, as per CTV News Toronto

Toronto-based Nirali is survived by her husband and one-year-old child.

'11A' is among the six seats in the first row of the economy class of Air India's B787-8 planes.

It is the window seat near one of the emergency exit doors as well as the aircraft galley area, according to the seat map.

While it might be too early to conclude on the factors that helped Ramesh exit the aircraft that went up in flames, being seated near the emergency exit door could be one of the reasons for his miraculous escape, PTI reported.

Vivek Kant, in an Opinion piece for The Indian Express, says the tragic Air India Boeing 787-8 crash is a "time to contemplate and learn".

The retired Maharashtra-cadre IPS officer who has worked in both the CBI and the CID writes: As part of the socio-technical system that runs the aviation sector, the general workforce must be trained to understand multiple complexities and interactions. This is what we should now focus on rather than blaming individuals, searching for root causes or treating accidents as acts of God.

Read the full piece here

At least 10 persons, including one of the pilots and crew members, on board the ill-fated London-bound Air India flight that crashed in Ahmedabad hailed from Maharashtra, officials said on Friday.

After appreciating the condolence messages pouring in from across the world, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar, in a post X, wrote: "In touch with FS @DavidLammy of UK, FM @PauloRangel_pt of Portugal and FM @AnitaAnandMP of Canada regarding the Ahmedabad plane crash. Expressed our profound condolences and offered fullest support in this hour of grief."

The trip to London was something Mahadev and his wife Asha were looking forward to. “During the last call, he said he was going to stay in London for a few months and then return. One of our nephews had clicked a picture of them outside the airport, which is now doing the rounds in the area,” Mahadev's cousin said.

Originally from Hadit, Mahadev and his family had migrated to Ahmedabad long back in search of a job.

Read more

At the Ahmedabad airport, the PM met the wife and family members of former Gujarat CM and senior BJP leader Vijay Rupani who was onboard the ill-fated flight. He consoled the family and interacted with them for around 30 minutes, as per sources.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday thanked all foreign leaders and governments for their condolences at the tragic loss of lives in the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad. The plane carrying 242 passengers and crew crashed minutes after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport on Thursday afternoon.

"Thank all foreign leaders and Governments for their condolences at the tragic loss of lives in the Ahmedabad air crash. We appreciate this deeply," Jaishankar said in a post on X. He was in Europe on an official visit when the tragedy struck the Boeing 737 Dreamliner which was bound for London.

Arrangements have been made by the Gujarat government to transport bodies of the crash victims to their native villages as soon as they are identified via DNA testing, Anand BJP MP Mitesh Patel said.

He added that as many as 33 passengers on the flight belonged to the district

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Ahmedabad today to take stock of the situation, a day after the deadly Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed killing 241 onboard. He visited the accident site near the Ahmedabad airport and also met those injured, currently receiving treatment in the city's Civil Hospital. Now, he's holding a meeting with ministers and officials.

Greg Feith, a former senior air safety investigator with the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), spoke to The Indian Express about the initials details and key questions as part of the investigation into the Ahmedabad-London Air India Boeing flight that crashed on Thursday afternoon.

When asked about what the altitude of 600 feet indicate about the flight phase and the pilot’s workload, Feith said: "Typically, in that particular phase of flight, the airplane would have been on the takeoff roll, then rotated, and started its initial climb."

If a problem developed that prevented them from retracting the landing gear — or if there was a hydraulic issue and the flaps retracted on their own — that would cause performance problems. Now the pilot flying has to expend significant mental effort to understand what’s happening and figure out the appropriate corrective action, he added.

After visiting the crash site near the Ahmedabad airport this morning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a post on X, reiterated his condolences message on the "loss of lives in such a sudden, heartbreaking manner".

"Visited the crash site in Ahmedabad today. The scene of devastation is saddening. Met officials and teams working tirelessly in the aftermath. Our thoughts remain with those who lost their loved ones in this unimaginable tragedy," his post read.

With photographs from his visit, he added: "We are all devastated by the air tragedy in Ahmedabad. The loss of so many lives in such a sudden and heartbreaking manner is beyond words. Condolences to all the bereaved families. We understand their pain and also know that the void left behind will be felt for years to come. Om Shanti."

Because the devil is in the details, says Greg Feith, a former senior air safety investigator with the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

As a forensic team is at work at the Ahmedabad aiport, Feith told The Indian Express that investigators are likely to assess the physical positions of the thrust levers, the flap handle, and the landing gear handle in the cockpit.

This will be used for a comparison with the data from the flight data recorder or the black box which is till being searched for. "If the recorder shows the landing gear or flaps were in the “up” position, but physically we know the gear was still down, that’s another anomaly," Feith added.

He has spent decades examining complex air crashes — including those that, like the Air India Express tragedy near Ahmedabad on Thursday, unfolded in the brief but critical moments after takeoff.

Read the full interview here

Air India has set up assistance centres in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Delhi, and Gatwick (London) airports for the relatives and friends of the victims of the plane crash in Ahmedabad, the airline said on Friday. These centres are facilitating travel of family members to Ahmedabad, Air India said in a statement.

The passenger hotline number for those calling from within India: 1800 5691 444

Those calling from outside India: +91 8062779200

The Tata-owned airlines, in a request to editors, asked mediapersons to not dial the hotline numbers dedicated to help families of the victims.

On behalf of the Congress, the party's general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh expressed condolences to the families of the victims killed in the Ahmedabad-London Air India flight crash,

In a post on X, Ramesh wrote: "The Indian National Congress extends its deepest condolences to all the families bereaved and so devastatingly affected by the crash of AI-171 yesterday."

He added that the party joins the country in the "collective anguish and grief".

"We had hoped and prayed while awaiting confirmation of fatalities. The confirmation is grim news and the INC joins the nation in our collective anguish and grief over this most unfortunate and shocking tragedy," his post read.

There were 11 passengers from Rajasthan onboard the London Gatwick-bound Air India flight that crashed at the Ahmedabad airport on Thursday afternoon.

Read more here

A day after the deadly Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed killing 241 onboard, Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed at the Ahmedabad airport and headed to meet those injured and receiving treatment at city’s Civil Hospital.

The bodies of the 241 deceased in the tragic plane crash of the Ahmedabad-London Gatwick Air India flight will be handed over to families after the DNA testing to confirm their identities is completed.

“The Gujarat’s Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) and the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) will jointly complete the DNA testing in the shortest possible time, after which the bodies of the deceased will be handed over to their families,” Amit Shah said, hours after the crash on Thursday afternoon.

The Union Home Minister also met the only person who miraculously survived the crash and was admitted in the hospital for medical treatment. Meanwhile, the operation to clear debris at the crash site continued overnight and is said to be in the last stages as of Friday morning.

Only one person, seated in 11A, survived the tragic crash of the London-bound flight at Ahmedabad airport.

Now, fatal air crashes with a sole survivor seem to defy all odds. But interestingly, there have been around two dozen instances in the past 80 years where just one person made it out alive in a major crash that killed 50 or more people.

A forensic team has arrived at the Ahmedabad airport crash site.

On Thursday afternoon, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner (AI 171), with 242 people on board, crashed into a medical college complex in the Meghaninagar area moments after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.

One person miraculously survived the crash and is receiving medical treatment. The other 241 passengers, including 168 Indians, 53 British, seven Portuguese and one Canadian, lost their lives in of the biggest aircraft accidents in the country, involving a Boeing plane.