Air India crash: Police collect 204 dead bodies

• All 242 passengers on board believed to have been killed in the Air India crash AI-171 in Ahmedabad

•  Air India passenger hotline numbers - 1800 5691 444 and for foreign nationals +91 8062779200

• There were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese, and a Canadian on board the flight bound for London Gatwick

• Contact @HCI_London on the emergency number 07768765035 with regard to emergency visa assistance to travel to India if needed

POLICE in Ahmedabad said they had collected 204 dead bodies after the London-bound Air India aircraft with 242 people on board crashed into residential buildings after takeoff on Thursday (12).

“We have found 204 bodies,” city police commissioner GS Malik said, adding that 41 injured people were “under treatment”.

The dead included those from the plane crash and from buildings into which the plane smashed.

“Rescue work is ongoing,” he said.

The crash was the first ever for a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a source familiar with the matter said. Boeing, the American planemaker, said it was ready to support Air India following the crash.

"We are in contact with Air India regarding Flight 171 and stand ready to support them," said a Boeing statement.
"Our thoughts are with the passengers, crew, first responders and all affected."

Several videos posted on social media showed the aircraft rapidly losing altitude - with its nose up - before it hit a building and exploded into an orange ball of fire.

  Damage at a building after an Air India plane crashed moments after taking off from the airport, in Ahmedabad. (PTI Photo)

Authorities said it went down outside the airport perimeter, in a crowded residential area while a reporter in the city said the plane crashed between a hospital and the city's Ghoda Camp neighbourhood.

A medic described how the burning plane had smashed into a residential block that is home to medical students and young doctors.

"One half of the plane crashed into the residential building where doctors lived with their families," said Krishna, a doctor who gave only one name.

He saw "about 15-20 burnt bodies" in the wreckage and debris.

It was not clear whether the dead he had seen had been killed on board the plane, or had been in the building the aircraft ploughed into.

"The nose and front wheel landed on the canteen building where students were having lunch," he said, adding he and colleagues had "rescued some 15 students from the building and sent them to hospital".

"When we reached the spot there were several bodies lying around and firefighters were dousing the flames," resident Poonam Patni said.

"Many of the bodies were burned", she added.

Another resident, who declined to be named, said: "We saw people from the building jumping from the second and third floor to save themselves. The plane was in flames.

"We helped people get out of the building and sent the injured to the hospital."

Outside Ahmedabad airport, a woman wailing inconsolably in grief said that five of her relatives had been aboard the plane.
In a post on social media, former UK prime minister Rishi Sunak, who was recently in Ahmedabad to watch the final of the Indian Premier League, said, “Akshata and I are deeply shocked and distressed by the news of the Air India tragedy.

“There is a unique bond between our two nations and our thoughts and prayers go out to the British and Indian families who have lost loved ones today.”