One survivor found as over 290 die in Air India plane crash

One survivor has been found after an Air India passenger plane bound for London with more than 240 people on board crashed in India’s northwestern city of Ahmedabad on Thursday, June 12, 2025.

More than 290 people were killed when the plane bound for London with 242 people on board crashed minutes after taking off, authorities said.

The dead included people on the ground as the aircraft – headed for Gatwick Airport, south of the British capital – crashed on to a medical college hostel during lunch hour.

“Approximately 294 have died. This includes some students as the plane crashed on the building where they were staying,” Vidhi Chaudhary, a top state police officer, told Reuters.

She said police found one survivor who was in seat 11A, next to an emergency exit, adding that there could be more survivors in hospital.

40-year-old Ramesh Viswashkumar said: “30 seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed.

“It all happened so quickly.

“When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me.

London-bound plane with 242 people crashes in India

“Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital.”

He disclosed that his brother, Ajay, was seated in a different row on the plane.

“He was travelling with me and I can’t find him anymore. Please help me find him,” the survivor added.

Black smoke billowed from the site where the plane went down in a populated area near the airport in Ahmedabad, a city of more than five million and the capital of Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state.

Modi called the crash “heartbreaking beyond words.”

In this sad hour, my thoughts are with everyone affected,” he said in a social media post.

Firefighters doused the smoking wreckage of the plane, which would have been fully loaded with fuel shortly after takeoff, and adjacent multistory buildings with water.

Many charred bodies lay on the ground and one was carried away on a stretcher by first responders.

“The scenes emerging of a London-bound plane carrying many British nationals crashing in the Indian city of Ahmedabad are devastating,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement.

The Star