By Izunna Okafor, Awka
A tragedy unlike any other has struck in Ahmedabad, India, where a Boeing 787 Dreamliner carrying 242 passengers and crew crashed into a medical-college hostel minutes after takeoff, claiming the lives of over 290 people and leaving the city in mourning.
The ill-fated Air India Flight AI‑171, bound for London Gatwick, was packed with 169 Indian nationals, 53 British citizens, seven Portuguese, one Canadian—and 12 crew members.
Miraculously, only one passenger, a British-Indian named Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, survived, later identified by investigators as seated in 11A .
The aircraft, registering VT-ANB, climbed to just 625 feet before nosediving and crashing into the BJ Medical College residential hall; students eating lunch leaped from windows in desperation—a scene etched in horrifying detail by witnesses. Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Services deployed 70 firefighting units to extinguish the blaze.
Reacting to the tragedy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the disaster “heartbreaking beyond words,” affirming that “ministers and authorities” were working round‑the‑clock in rescue and relief operations.
On his own part, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the scenes as “devastating” and expressed solidarity with families of British victims. King Charles extended “special prayers and deepest possible sympathy” via X .
Similarly, many other world leaders have conveyed deep sorrow. The Vatican’s Secretary of State relayed that Pope Leo XIV was “deeply saddened,” offering prayers “for all involved in the recovery efforts,” while Turkish, EU, Russian, French, and Australian heads of state sent condolences, pledging support.
Sharing same feeling, U.S. President, Donald Trump described the crash “one of the worst in aviation history” and offered American assistance to India, while voicing confidence that the country “will handle it” .
Industry voices have also called for meticulous probe into what appears to be the first-ever total loss of the Dreamliner, even as the British Airline Pilots’ Association urged a “full and thorough investigation… without interference” to prevent future calamities.
International investigative teams from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, Britain’s AAIB, and Boeing are en route to Ahmedabad, following data recorder retrieval. Boeing itself confirmed awareness of the incident, even as its stock price dropped sharply. GE Aerospace, the manufacturer of the jet’s engines, have also dispatched support teams to aid in investigation .
Scores of local hostellers were caught in the wreckage—over 75 bodies were recovered from the hostel itself, and fifty medical students were rushed to hospitals.
Police, in a statement, confirmed that at least 204 dead bodies have so far been recovered from the scene, though the death toll is expected to rise, with several passengers still unidentified pending DNA verification .
The ongoing rescue efforts saw coordinated efforts from CISF, the Indian Army, local fire services and medical teams. Nearby Ahmedabad Airport halted flight operations briefly before resuming under strict regulations.
Reports have it that Tata Group, Air India’s parent company, have offered immediate compensation and medical support to families, while Boeing and GE Aerospace have activated emergency response teams. Air India chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran described the event as a “tragic accident” and pledged full cooperation with rescue efforts .
This catastrophic accident is now India’s deadliest air disaster in a decade, overshadowing previous incidents. Authorities and global aviation community have emphasized the urgent need for a transparent probe to restore confidence in air travel. The global aviation bodies await findings from the cockpit voice and flight data recorders hoping to understand what failed in a jet that never climbed fully and failed catastrophically.
