Air India Flight 171: Difference between revisions

Not to be confused with Indian Airlines Flight 171.

Air India Flight 171

The wreckage of the aircraft tail section wedged in the hostel block
Accident
Date	12 June 2025 (2025-06-12)
Summary	Crashed into a building shortly after take-off; under investigation
Site	B. J. Medical College, Ahmedabad, India 23°3′19″N 72°36′44″E
Total fatalities	279+
Total injuries	61+
Aircraft
VT-ANB, the aircraft involved in the accident, photographed in 2024
Aircraft type	Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner
Operator	Air India
IATA flight No.	AI171
ICAO flight No.	AIC171
Call sign	AIRINDIA 171
Registration	VT-ANB
Flight origin	Ahmedabad Airport, Ahmedabad, India
Destination	Gatwick Airport, London, United Kingdom
Occupants	242
Passengers	230
Crew	12
Fatalities	241
Injuries	1
Survivors	1
Ground casualties
Ground fatalities	38+
Ground injuries	60+

Air India Flight 171 was a regularly scheduled international Air India flight from Ahmedabad Airport to London Gatwick Airport. Shortly after takeoff at 13:38 IST on 12 June 2025, the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner operating the flight crashed into the hostel block of B. J. Medical College in the Meghaninagar neighbourhood of Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India.

The aircraft was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members. Of the 242 people on board, only a single passenger survived the crash. At least 38 people on the ground were also killed. The crash marked the first hull loss of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, and was the type's first with fatalities.

Background

Aircraft and route

The aircraft involved was an 11-year-old Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner registered as VT-ANB with serial number 36279. The aircraft was assembled at the Boeing Everett Factory and included fuselage sections made at the Boeing facility in Charleston. It was delivered to Air India on 28 January 2014 and powered by two General Electric GEnx-1B67 engines.

Air India began operating routes to London Gatwick in 2023. At the time of the crash, it operated twelve departures a week, including five to Ahmedabad, where the airport is surrounded by dense residential areas.

Passengers and crew

Nationality	Passengers	Crew	Total
India	169	12	181
United Kingdom	53	—	53
Portugal	7	—	7
Canada	1	—	1
Total	230	12	242

The flight was carrying 242 people, including 230 passengers—11 of them children and 2 infants—along with 2 pilots and 10 flight attendants. The passenger manifest included 169 Indian nationals, 53 British, 7 Portuguese, and a Canadian. The flight was commanded by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, aged 55, with 8,200 hours of flying experience, and First Officer Clive Kunder, aged 32, with 1,100 hours of flying experience.

Accident

CCTV footage of the crash

Map of flight path and impact

1km
0.6miles

Crash site

Ahmedabad Airport

   

Expandable map of the area

Flight 171 took off from runway 23 of Ahmedabad Airport at 13:38 IST (08:08 UTC) en route to London Gatwick. According to METAR reports issued around the time of departure, the surface winds at the airport were light, ranging from 3 to 6 knots; the visibility was 6 kilometres (3.7 mi); and there were no significant clouds.

The aircraft's ADS-B transponder reported a maximum pressure altitude of around 625 feet (191 m) over the runway before the signal was lost at 08:08:50 UTC. The flight crew issued a mayday call after 36 seconds, reporting a loss of power and thrust shortly after takeoff.

A video of the incident, caught by chance by a 17-year-old aviation enthusiast, showed the aircraft initially gaining altitude before gradually descending while appearing to pitch up, then, just out of view, crashing around thirty seconds after takeoff, followed by a plume of fire and smoke. The crash site was 1.5 kilometres (0.9 mi) away from the runway. Initial assessments by experts of available video and audio recordings suggest a failure of both engines, based on observation of the automatic deployment of the plane's ram air turbine, a backup power system used for hydraulic pump, or electrical generator during emergencies.

Eyewitnesses from the Meghaninagar area reported multiple explosions, followed by thick plumes of smoke as the aircraft hit a building and slid. The plane crashed into the residential area of the Civil Hospital campus, hitting the doctors' quarters and the students' hostel buildings of the hospital's B. J. Medical College. The aircraft's partially intact stabilisers and tail cone came to rest on top of the multi-storey hostel building.

This was Air India's first fatal hull loss since the bombing of Air India Flight 182 in 1985, and the first fatal crash and the first hull loss of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Rescue and relief operation

The Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Services Department confirmed the deployment of units from various city divisions. The first call to the control room was received on 13:45 IST. Two firefighter teams were sent immediately from Naroda GIDC, and the "brigade call" was issued. More than 300 firefighters, 60 fire vehicles, and 20 water bowsers were deployed. Multiple ambulances, including 20 ambulances from the fire department, were rushed to the location. All roads leading to the crash site and surrounding areas were closed to facilitate rescue operations. Teams and fire vehicles from surrounding fire services including Vadodara, Gandhinagar, ONGC, GIFT City, and Civil Defence were also sent to the scene to render aid.

The Central Industrial Security Force, responsible for security at Ahmedabad Airport, were among the first responders. Teams from the Indian Army, Border Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force, National Disaster Response Force, and Western Railways were deployed to assist with rescue and relief efforts, and a military hospital was put on standby.

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation deployed more than 150 vehicles, including earthmovers, excavators, trucks, and a roller, to clear debris from the site. The corporation also deployed engineers and health department personnel, and ordered the emergency readiness of the municipal hospitals. Shortly after the crash, all flight operations at the airport were suspended before resuming later in the day in a limited capacity.

Victims

The crash killed 241 people aboard the aircraft and at least 38 in the hostel buildings, making it one of the deadliest aviation disasters in history. By 13 June, police officials told BBC News that 6 bodies had been released to their families. Among the victims was Vijay Rupani, the former Chief Minister of Gujarat (2016–2021), whose body was identified through his dental records. Identification of the victims was hampered by the charred condition of most of the remains. The intense heat of the crash, which had reached an estimated 1,500 °C (2,700 °F), had hindered DNA identification, with only 35 bodies having been handed over to their families three days after the crash.

At least 50 medical students from the hostel buildings were hospitalised. The dean of the college said the aircraft hit a dining hall while 60–80 students were inside, adding that "most of the students escaped, but 10 or 12 were trapped in the fire".

Location of seat 11A and emergency exits in the forward section of Air India's 787 configuration

A 40-year-old British citizen was the sole survivor of the crash. He had been seated in seat 11A, located next to an emergency exit. He said that the section of the aircraft where he was seated detached and came to rest on the ground floor of the hostel. After unfastening his seat belt, he escaped through an opening created by the emergency exit breaking open. Doctors treating him reported that he was in a disorientated condition with multiple injuries, including burns to his left hand, but was no longer in danger. His brother, who had been seated in a different row, did not survive.

The crash was the deadliest aviation accident in India since the 1996 Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision and Air India's worst disaster since the bombing of Flight 182 in 1985.

Investigation

The crash is currently under investigation by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB). The United Kingdom's Air Accidents Investigation Branch also dispatched a team of four investigators, while the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) sent a "go team" to assist. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said that it "[stood] ready to launch a team immediately" in support of the NTSB.

On 13 June, after 28 hours of searching, it was reported that the National Security Guard and the on-site team of the AAIB had recovered the flight data recorder (FDR), one of the two installed flight recorders. Later that same day, the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad retrieved a digital video recorder from the wreckage that stores footage from the aircraft's external and cabin-mounted cameras and is separate from the two certified flight recorders. It was reported on 15 June that the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) had been recovered from the crash site.

India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Air India opened parallel inquiries into the accident. On 13 June, the DGCA ordered additional pre-departure technical inspections for the airline's Boeing 787 fleet, starting on 15 June. DGCA also directed Air India to execute additional maintenance and inspections on fuel-parameter monitoring and associated systems, cabin air compressor and associated systems, electronic engine control system test, engine fuel driven actuator-operational test, and oil-system checks for the Boeing 787-8 and 787-9.

On 14 June, Indian aviation minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu told reporters that the government panel investigating the crash would issue a report within three months.

Responses

Central Home Minister and Chief Minister of Gujarat at the crash site

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the crash site on 13 June and also visited the hospital where he met the lone survivor from the plane crash and those who had been injured on the ground. Home minister Amit Shah spoke with the chief minister of Gujarat, Bhupendra Patel, following the incident. Patel stated that officials had been instructed to carry out "immediate rescue and relief operations" and to make arrangements on a "war footing".

British prime minister Keir Starmer expressed his condolences, and the UK Foreign Office arranged crisis teams in India and the UK. At the Trooping the Colour in London on 14 June, there was a one-minute silence and senior royals wore black armbands in remembrance of the victims, at the request of King Charles III.

Air India chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran said that Flight 171 was involved in a "tragic accident" and expressed "deepest condolences" to those affected. He said the airline's focus is on supporting victims and their families, assisting emergency teams, and providing verified updates. An emergency centre and support teams had been activated for those seeking information. Air India CEO Campbell Wilson stated that "this is a difficult day for all of us at Air India", saying that special teams of caregivers would be mobilised for additional support and adding that the investigations would take time. Air India Flight 143, a 787-8 similar to the aircraft involved, flying from Delhi to Paris–CDG with Wilson aboard, returned to Delhi for him to assist the airline with the crisis.

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg cancelled his plans to attend the Paris Air Show and offered his condolences to the victims. Ortberg said he would also send a team of experts to aid the investigators at the crash site. Boeing said it was aware of the initial reports and was assessing information. The company's stock futures prices sank almost 9% following the crash. GE Aerospace, which manufactured the aircraft's engines, said it would send a team to India and analyse cockpit data.

Aftermath

On the day of the crash, Tata Group, the parent company of Air India, announced ₹1 crore (US$120,000) compensation per person to the families of each person who died, along with covering the medical expenses of people injured in the accident. They also announced plans to assist in the rebuilding of the destroyed B. J. Medical College building. The Indian Medical Association requested Tata Group to extend the compensation to include the medical students who were killed or injured. Under the Montreal Convention, Air India is liable to pay around ₹1.5 crore (US$180,000) to the kin of each deceased passenger. The Tata group extended its ₹1 crore (US$120,000) compensation to the 33 on-ground victims of the crash as well.

Air India retired the flight number AI171, and its reciprocal AI172, and began to refer the London Gatwick - Ahmedabad route as AI159 and AI160 respectively. Air India subsidiary Air India Express also retired the flight number IX171.

See also

• List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft
• List of sole survivors of aviation accidents and incidents
• List of deadliest aircraft accidents and incidents
• List of aircraft accidents and incidents by number of ground fatalities
• 2025 in aviation
• Northwest Airlines Flight 255 – a 1987 accident involving a failure to climb after takeoff, previously the deadliest aviation accident with a sole survivor
• Mandala Airlines Flight 091 (2005) and Spanair Flight 5022 (2008) – accidents involving aircraft that lost altitude shortly after takeoff

External links

• Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network