Air India flight 171

LONDON — A British man who survived the Ahmedabad plane crash has told his family he is “fine” on a phone call, his cousin said, according to PA Media/dpa.

The Hindustan Times newspaper reported that Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, made it out alive and his cousin, Ajay Valgi, later told broadcaster BBC News: “He only said that he’s fine, nothing else.”

Ramesh was sitting next to his brother on the flight and has a wife and “little boy” at home, Valgi added.

Asked about reports that Ramesh was the sole survivor, the cousin said: “Yes, we heard that, but still can’t say anything unless we hear it from the proper people.”

He added: “At least the family is happy that he’s okay, but we’re still upset about the other brother.”

“We’re not doing well, are we? We’re all upset,” he said, adding that the family is waiting to find out what happened to Ramesh’s brother.

“I feel absolutely upset, he’s not just my cousin, he’s my brother, he’s my best friend as well.” — BERNAMA-PA Media/dpa

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BOEING Co. Chief Executive Officer Kelly Ortberg has canceled plans to attend the Paris Air Show after Thursday’s Air India crash that killed all but one of the 242 people aboard a Dreamliner plane in the deadliest aviation accident in more than a decade. 

Boeing commercial aircraft head Stephanie Pope also won’t attend the Paris show — the global aviation industry’s most important annual gathering — according to a company memo seen by Bloomberg News. GE Aerospace, whose engines powered the doomed plane, has cancelled a June 17 investor day. 

The 787-8 Dreamliner, bound for London, crashed shortly after taking off from the western Indian city of Ahmedabad. The aircraft entered a slow descent shortly after taking off, with its landing gear still extended before exploding into a huge fireball upon impact. Video footage shared on social media showed a plume of smoke at the crash site. It had plunged into a dining hall at a medical school as students ate lunch. 

Officials earlier said that emergency responders had recovered more than 200 bodies at the crash site, though they didn’t immediately say how many were passengers, crew or area residents. They said the toll could rise as emergency workers comb through the wreckage.

“We have found 204 bodies, we are looking for more bodies,” Ahmedabad Police Commissioner G.S. Malik told Bloomberg. “There is a chance that there may be survivors. 41 injured are being treated. These include people who were staying in the residential area.”

The official death toll will be announced after DNA verification, Amit Shah, India’s federal home minister, told reporters.

Flight AI171 was carrying 12 crew and 230 passengers, most of whom were Indian and British nationals.  

The aircraft’s tail could be seen wedged into the building as fire crews hosed down blackened rubble.

Following Thursday’s accident, the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at Ahmedabad suspended flights. Gatwick Airport, the second-largest in the London area, said the aircraft had been due to land in the UK capital at 6:25 p.m. local time. The airport has set up an emergency assistance center for those affected by the crash.

The twin-engine plane had reached an altitude of 625 feet (191 meters) at a speed of 174 knots, or about 200 miles per hour, according to data from Flightradar24. 

The pilots in command issued a mayday call immediately after takeoff to air traffic controllers, according to India’s civil aviation regulator. The aircraft was in the command of captain Sumeet Sabharwal and first officer Clive Kundar, who had 8,200 flying hours and 1,100 flying hours of experience, respectively, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said.

According to air traffic control data, the jet departed from Ahmedabad at 1:39 p.m. local time using runway 23. After the initial mayday call, there was no response from the cockpit to subsequent calls made by controllers on the ground.

The accident extends a series of serious and fatal incidents in the civil aviation industry this year, including a midair collision in Washington early in 2025 between a military helicopter and an aircraft. 

Air India is in the middle of a strategic turnaround that includes a huge aircraft order as it seeks to tap growing demand from a rising Indian middle class. 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the accident is “heartbreaking beyond words,” according to a statement, adding that he’s been in touch with ministers and authorities assisting the salvage operation.

India’s civil aviation minister, Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu, told reporters the nation would conduct a fair and thorough investigation. “We are not going to leave any stone unturned.”

US President Donald Trump said the US is willing to help India after the plane crash.

“I let them know that anything we can do, we’ll be over there immediately. But it was a horrific crash,” Trump told reporters during a White House bill-signing ceremony.

Thursday’s crash marks the first-ever complete loss of a 787, a plane Boeing introduced more than a decade ago with advanced lightweight composite materials that improve fuel efficiency. The 787 has become a crucial source of revenue for Boeing, with 1,148 of the jets in service globally.

Boeing shares fell 4.8% in New York on Thursday, the biggest decline of any stock in the S&P 500 index.

Ortberg said in a statement issued Thursday that he has spoken to Air India Chairman N. Chandrasekaran and that Boeing is ready to support the investigation.

Scott Stocker, who runs Boeing’s 787 program, told employees in a memo seen by Bloomberg that the company’s thoughts are with the passengers, crew, first responders and everyone affected.

“For now, the best thing we can do is focus on our work and avoid speculation,” he said in the memo, adding that Boeing has a technical team assisting Air India and global investigators.

Among the 242 people on board, 169 were Indian nationals, 53 were British citizens, one 1 was Canadian and seven Portuguese, according to Air India.

Based on the number of people on board, this is the worst commercial airline crash since Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in 2014, which was shot down over Ukraine, killing 298 people, according to Aviation Safety Network, which tracks fatal crashes. The last crash of this magnitude for Air India was Flight 182 in 1985. That Boeing 747 aircraft was destroyed by a bomb over the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 329 people on board.

Boeing has been involved in several accidents in recent years, including two fatal crashes with Lion Air Flight 610 on October 29, 2018, and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on March 10, 2019. Early last year, a nearly-new 737 Max aircraft lost a door panel during flight. While there were no fatalities, the accident plunged the company into a deep crisis.

The aircraft involved in Thursday’s accident, registered as Air India VT-ANB, was almost 12 years old. The plane was powered by two General Electric Co. GEnx engines. GE Aerospace said in a post on X that it is assembling an emergency response team to go to India to support the investigation.

Initial assembly of the Air India Dreamliner began in August 2010, according to the All Things 787 blog that tracked Boeing’s production at the time. The jet was delivered more than three years later, a typical lag for Dreamliners requiring extensive modifications. 

“It is still too early to tell what happened, though it seems this was not likely a manufacturing or design issue given the age and usage history of the aircraft,” Citi analyst Jason Gursky wrote in a client note. “The stock will likely trade down until we learn more.”

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the department was sending a team of Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board personnel to assist the investigation led by India’s government. US air safety officials typically provide support in crash probes involving an American-built aircraft.

Air India operates 34 Boeing 787 aircraft, according to data from aviation consultant Cirium. Their age ranges from just over 2 years to nearly 14, with most more than a decade old. In all, the airline has 192 Boeing and Airbus SE jetliners in its fleet. In 2023, the Tata Group signed a massive 470-plane order to refresh the aging models they inherited with new planes and position the airline for growth.

Tata Group will pay out 10 million rupees ($116,830) to the families of each person that died in the crash, according to a post on X citing Chandrasekaran, who is also chairman of Tata Sons, the group’s holding company. 

Under international rules for aviation crash investigations — known as “Annex 13” — a probe is led by air safety authorities in the country where the crash occurred, with assistance from other countries. Investigators typically issue a preliminary report within a few weeks. A final report, which includes safety recommendations, is then released a year to two later. –BLOOMBERG

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