Air India flight to UK crashes in Ahmedabad in India shortly after takeoff – latest updates

At least 242 people were on board the London-bound Air India flight AI171, say police

The London-bound flight took off from Ahmedabad at about 1.47 pm, slightly delayed from schedule. Officials say it crashed nine minutes after being given clearance for take off.

India’s directorate general of civil aviation just gave this statement to Indian media:

Captain Sumeet Sabharwal is an LTC with 8,200 hours of experience. The co-pilot had 1100 hours of flying experience.

As per ATC, the aircraft departed from Ahmadabad at 1339 IST (0809 UTC) from runway 23. It gave a mayday call to ATC, but thereafter, no response was given by the aircraft to the calls made by ATC.