Plane crash with 242 people on board near Indian airport appears to leave no survivors

Ahmedabad plane crash: Footage posted to social media shortly after the crash and verified by NBC News, shows plumes of thick black smoke rising into the sky to the south of the airport in Ahmedabad.

By Jennifer Jett and Mithil Aggarwal

There appeared to be no survivors among the 242 passengers and crew aboard an Air India plane that crashed near a major international airport in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, the city’s police commissioner said Thursday.

Footage posted to social media shortly after the crash and verified by NBC News, shows plumes of thick black smoke rising into the sky from a civilian location to the south of the airport.

“It appears there are no survivors in the plane crash,” G.S. Malik, police commissioner for Ahmedabad told The Associated Press, adding that “some locals would have also died” when the plane crashed into a residential area where offices were also located.

By Jennifer Jett and Mithil Aggarwal

There appeared to be no survivors among the 242 passengers and crew aboard an Air India plane that crashed near a major international airport in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, the city’s police commissioner said Thursday.

Footage posted to social media shortly after the crash and verified by NBC News, shows plumes of thick black smoke rising into the sky from a civilian location to the south of the airport.

“It appears there are no survivors in the plane crash,” G.S. Malik, police commissioner for Ahmedabad told The Associated Press, adding that “some locals would have also died” when the plane crashed into a residential area where offices were also located.

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“Exact figures on casualties are being ascertained,” he said.

The flight crashed midday local time shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad airport with 242 people aboard.

Earlier in the day, local police told Reuters that more than 100 bodies had been brought to an Ahmedabad hospital. Separately, rescuers said that they had recovered between 30 and 35 bodies from the site.

The plane’s tail could be seen protruding from the wall of a building in a picture from the crash site shared on X by India’s central police force. Other images showed rescuers standing next to charred wreckage and a downed tree near a residential complex.

The flight was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew, a spokesperson for the airline told NBC News.

Images released by Indian government forces shot the tail of a passenger jet wedged into a building in Ahmedabad on Thursday..CISF India via X

Among the passengers were 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, 1 Canadian national and 7 Portuguese nationals, the airline said in a separate statement. “The injured are being taken to the nearest hospitals,” it added.

The airline did not provide nationalities of the crew members.

It was not immediately clear how many passengers had died aboard the flight that was scheduled to depart at 1:10 p.m. local time (3:40 a.m. ET), and expected to land in London at 18:25 p.m. local time (1:25 p.m. ET).

Credit: NBCNEWS