Air India Dreamliner Crashes After Take-off from Ahmedabad

Reading Time: 3 minutes Catastrophic accident claims 242 lives in Boeing 787’s first fatal hull-loss In a dark day for Indian aviation, an Air India Boeing 787‑8 Dreamliner operating Flight AI171 to London Gatwick crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on Wednesday afternoon, killing all 242 people on board. The aircraft came down in the city’s Meghani Nagar locality, striking a residential building and erupting in a fireball. All 230 passengers and 12 crew perished in what is now India’s worst aviation disaster since the Mangalore air crash of 2010. Among the deceased was former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. Authorities continue to assess the number of casualties on the ground. Final Moments: Sudden Distress and Impact The aircraft, registered VT‑ANB, departed at 13:38 IST and transmitted a “Mayday” distress call less than three minutes later. It reached an altitude of approximately 625 feet before