Air India flight to London Gatwick crashes in Ahmedabad

More than 200 people have died after an Air India plane crashed in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, a police officer has told Reuters. Subscribe to Guardian News on YouTube ► http://bit.ly/guardianwiressub The plane was headed for London Gatwick Airport when it crashed five minutes after taking off at 1.38pm local time on Thursday. Video, obtained by local media, showed the aircraft fly over a residential area called Meghani Nagar before crashing, creating what appeared to be a large explosion. Photographs of the aftermath showed billowing smoke rising over the area and firefighters on charred streets. In another image, people were seen assessing the damage while part of the mangled plane could be seen sticking out of a building. More than 100 bodies, most of them badly charred, had been brought to the local government hospital for autopsy, authorities said. Air India’s chair, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, described the incident as a “tragic accident”. The 242 people onboard the flight to Gatwick airport included 217 adults and 11 children. Of them, 169 were Indian nationals, 53 were Britons, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian, Air India said. This is the first crash ever of a Boeing 787 aircraft, according to the Aviation Safety Network database. #airindia #indiaaircrash #indiaplanecrash #airindiacrash #ahmedabad #india #londongatwick