AIR INDIA PLANE CRASHES MINUTES AFTER TAKEOFF

All passengers, except one, and crew feared dead

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A London-bound Air India plane carrying 242 passengers and crew crashed into a medical college complex here and burst into a ball of fire on Thursday moments after take off.

Former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani was among the dead, according to BJP leader C R Patil.

There were also reports of one passenger identified as Vishwash Kumar Ramesh and seated on 11A of the illfated Boeing 787 Dreamliner (AI171) having survived miraculously.

There was no official count of those killed even hours after the twin-engine wide bodied aircraft crashed in the city civil hospital and BJ Medical College outside the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport perimeter.

As rescuers struggled to find survivors in the charred wreckage and pull out the injured, many of them with grievous burns, officials tried to assess the human magnitude of the disaster.

Unofficial reports said up to 25 people in the medical complex could also have died.

According to Air India, of the 230 passengers, 169 were Indians, 53 British, seven Portuguese and one Canadian. The other 12 people on board were two pilots and 10 crew members.

The pilot issued a 'Mayday' distress call, denoting a full emergency, soon after takeoff at 1.39 pm, the Air Traffic Control at Ahmedabad said.