Plane carrying 242 passengers crashes soon after takeoff in India, landing site in London.
Disaster Strikes: Air India Flight AI 171 Crashes in Ahmedabad
Ouch, mate! Catch this jaw-dropping tale about the catastrophic crash of Air India Flight AI 171. On a fateful Thursday, over 200 souls were lost as the plane met its doom just minutes after liftoff from Ahmedabad. Yep, you heard it right - this ain't no drill, it’s the world's deadliest aviation disaster in a decade.
The doomed Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was bound for London and was carrying 242 passengers and crew. The irony is thick as the smoke: the aircraft smashed into a residential area, slamming into the B.J. Medical College doctors' hostel during lunch hour. The flight was aiming for Gatwick Airport, south of London.
Eyewitnesses reported 204 bodies being recovered so far, but no survivors have been found yet. And, sorry to say, but all onboard are presumed dead. Oh, and the death toll includes those on the ground, too.
Now, if you’re friends or family of any of the victims, DNA samples are being collected to help identify the many lost lives. And word is, about 70-80% of the crashed area has been cleared.
There you have it! Photos and videos from the wreckage show flaming debris and the tail of the aircraft lodged atop the building. A bunch of poor medical students were dinning it up in the hostel mess, and alas, they didn’t make it through the incident.
The flight manifest showed it was carrying 217 adults, 11 kids, and two infants. Most of the passengers were Indian, British, Portuguese, and Canadian citizens.
Now, the wrecked Dreamliner, a prized possession of commercial aviation, had flown for the very first time way back in 2013, and joined the Air India fleet in January 2014. This unfortunate event marks the first crash of the Dreamliner since it entered service in 2011.
So, the flight departed from Ahmedabad's runway 23 at 1:39 p.m. local time, but just a few minutes later, it issued a "Mayday" call and lost contact with air traffic control. Or maybe video footage captured the plane flying low over residential rooftops before a fireball erupted in the distance. Tough luck!
Dr. Anthony Brickhouse, an aerospace safety expert, noticed something rather strange - the landing gear was down on video footage when it should have been retracted. He speculated it looked more like the plane was preparing to land, rather than just taking off.
The scene was a chaotic one. The British Prime Minister Keir Starmer expressed his devastation, King Charles released a heartfelt statement, and the UK Foreign Office pledged to collaborate with the Indian authorities to help distraught families.
Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was "heartbroken" by the tragedy. He did his duty by directing aviation and emergency services to provide support during rescue and recovery operations.
Lastly, the airport, managed by the Adani Group, temporarily halted operations but opened up limited services again. They offered their deepest condolences to the grieving families. Now, that's what I call true compassion.
The investigation is ongoing, with safety officials working tirelessly to analyze the data from the flight recorders and figure out the cause of the crash. And hey, even the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are sharing their expertise to help the investigators make sense of the mess.
The air disaster has led to a surge in general-news coverage, with stories about the crashed Air India Flight AI 171 dominating headlines. The incident, involving a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, has raised concerns in the aviation industry and finance, as this marks the first crash of the Dreamliner since its entry into service in 2011. The unfortunate event has also raised questions about the safety of commercial transportation, particularly in the crime-and-justice context, as investigators scramble to uncover the cause of the accident.
