A Boeing 787‑8 Dreamliner operated by Air India tragically crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad (AMD) today, June 12, 2025, en route to London Gatwick (LGW). With 242 people aboard and the jet colliding into a building in a densely populated area, it marks the first fatal accident in the Dreamliner’s history.
Over 200 Killed in Air India 787 Crash: Here’s The Latest
While many questions remain unanswered and many theories are emerging as to the cause of the crash, I want to focus here on only what we know.
- Flight & Aircraft
- Air India Flight AI171, a Boeing 787‑8 Dreamliner (registration VT‑ANB), departed Ahmedabad at 1:38 pm local time.
- The aircraft was delivered to Air India in January 2014 and had flown its first service in 2013
- People Onboard
- 242 occupants: 230 passengers (including 11 children and 2 infants) and 12 crew.
- Nationalities included 169 Indians, 53 Britons, 7 Portuguese, and 1 Canadian.
- Crash Details
- A Mayday distress call was issued shortly after takeoff; last known altitude was ~625 ft.
- The aircraft crashed into the B.J. Medical College hostel in Meghani Nagar, a densely populated residential–academic zone.
- Casualties
- At least 204 confirmed fatalities onboard; authorities do not expect survivors among the 242 aboard.
- At least 5 deaths and dozens of injuries on the ground, including students and civilians.
- Only one survivor, Ramesh Viswashkumar, a 40-year-old British national seated in 11A, is known
- Historical Context
- This is the first fatal crash of a Boeing 787 since the aircraft entered commercial service in 2011.
- It is Air India’s deadliest accident since the 2020 Kozhikode runway overrun and the airline’s first total hull loss since 1985.
- Response & Investigation
- Fire, ambulance, and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) teams responded immediately; partial airport operations resumed by evening.
- Investigation is underway by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, with Boeing, GE Aerospace, and international agencies involved.
- Reactions
- Indian PM Narendra Modi, UK PM Keir Starmer, and King Charles have issued condolences.
- The United States has offered to send National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) crash site investigators, if requested by the Indian government.
- Boeing stock futures dropped 7–9% following the crash and are currently trading down 5%
CONCLUSION
This is a horrifying day for aviation, but especially for the familes and friends of the souls onboard. My prayers are with everyone impacted by this devastating accident, and I’ll report further details as this tragedy unfolds.
My thoughts are with the families of the victims. Now, how can you explain that after a plane dropping 625ft from the sky and exploding and engulfing in flames after hitting the ground you see 1 single passenger surviving by “jumping from the plane” and simply seen walking on the streets like nothing has happened? Are you sure that guy was really on the plane?
This can be easily verified by the passenger manifest.
Prayers in shock and grief as this tragedy continues to unfold. It’s a story painful to read, and I imagine, difficult to write.
Thank you Matthew for your sensitive treatment.
Reuters reported : ” Air India plane crashed just after take off in Ahmedabad
More then 290 people have died
There were 242 people on board, police say one survivor has been found
Passengers included 169 Indians, 53 Britons, 7 Portuguese and 1 Canadian
Plane crashed onto doctors’ hostel
The flight was AI171 to London Gatwick
Prayers as stated for everyone involved.
Hopefully this is solved quickly. The late attempt in the video to pull up is interesting to me. Possibly makes the questions about the flaps have validity. Things like this just are not supposed to happen in 2025.
Dave,
That was the first thing I thought of when I saw the video. Flaps from takeoff would not have been stowed that quickly, especially if the crew was dealing with other issues and declaring “Mayday”. Perhaps a bird strike? May all the souls RIP.
What a horrendous tragedy. I pray for the families of all who lost their lives
Psalm 34:18
A horrific tragedy and my heart goes out to the families.
One thing in the aftermath which shocked me was a photos of the passenger manifest in someone’s hand, circulating online.
I’ve been at the Heathrow Passenger Information Centre after a couple of major incidents and the manifest was closely guarded so that next of kin could be appropriately informed. Today a copy of the AI171 manifest was doing the rounds on WhatsApp and published by an Indian newspaper about 3 hours later
1. I pray for all the victims’ families and friends. This is a tragedy.
2. I love how the media outlets that I looked at said something like “Boeing plane crashes in India”, and made everyone not want to fly on Boeing, even though there has not been any conclusive evidence that it was Boeing’s fault.
Have Boeing started blaming Indian pilots yet? Surely this can’t be the consequence of another badly built aircraft crashing.
@matthew : my completely uneducated guess would be someone (or some gauge) miscalculating necessary runway distance to V1, seeing that it’s a really fully loaded 787-8 taking off at 40°C over a runway that’s barely long enough. I’m not saying air India is over MTOW, but at 40°C against a plane not known to be a “hot and high” rocket, me thinks the root cause is something related to payload curve for hot-temp. otherwise the plane wouldnt be instantly stalling the moment it left the ground.
Ps I pulled all that completely out of my arse