Continue with Google
Unconfirmed reports said that former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani was among the passengers of the Air India plane that crashed in a locality near the Ahmedabad Airport on Thursday afternoon.
"Former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani is believed to be on the Air India flight that crashed near the Ahmedabad airport on Thursday, an indiatoday.in report said, citing sources said.
An confirmation on Vijay Rupani's presence onboard is awaited.
The Air India plane bound for London's Gatwick Airport, AI171, reportedly had over 240 people on board, including several crew members.
Air India plane crash: Former Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani’s body id...
Visuals showed smoke billowing from the crash site near the airport in Ahmedabad.
Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, the director general of the directorate of civil aviation, told The Associated Press that Air India flight AI 171, a Boeing 787, crashed into a residential area called Meghani Nagar five minutes after taking off at 1:38 pm local time.
There were 232 passengers and 12 crew members onboard, and that emergency teams have been activated at the airport, Kidwai said.
The 787 Dreamliner is a widebody, twin-engined plane. This is the first crash ever of a Boeing 787 aircraft, according to the Aviation Safety Network database.
Air India issued a statement after the crash, saying flight AI171, operating Ahmedabad-London Gatwick, was involved in an incident.
"At this moment, we are ascertaining the details and will share further updates at the earliest on http://airindia.com and on our X handle (https://x.com/airindia)," Air India posted on X.
Initial ADS-B data shared by Flightradar24 from flight AI171 showed that the aircraft reached a maximum barometric altitude of 625 feet (airport altitude is about 200 feet) and then it started to descend with a vertical speed of -475 feet per minute.
As a result of Air India plane crash incident, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (SVPIA), Ahmedabad, was shut till further notice, SVPIA spokesperson said.
