New Delhi: The ill-fated Air India plane that crashed near Ahmedabad airport this afternoon was under the command of Capt Sumeet Sabharwal with First Officer Clive Kundar. The London-bound plane carrying 242 passengers crashed shortly after the take-off.
Captain Sumeet Sabharwal is a Line Training Captain (LTC) with 8200 hours of experience, and the copilot had 1100 hours of flying experience.
The Boeing aircraft crashed in Meghaninagar area near the Ahmedabad international airport around 2 pm. The pilot gave a Mayday call to ATC, but thereafter no response was given by the aircraft to the calls made by ATC. “Flight AI171, operating Ahmedabad-London Gatwick, was involved in an incident today, 12 June 2025. At this moment, we are ascertaining the details and will share further updates at the earliest on http://airindia.com and on our X handle,” Air India posted on X.
According to Air India, the ill-fated Air India flight from Ahmedabad to Gatwick had 169 Indians, 53 British, and one Canadian national on-board.
There was no official estimate of those killed or injured. There were fears that some in Meghaninagar could be among those who lost their lives. Many of those injured were taken to the city civil hospital nearby.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu, asking them to go to Ahmedabad and ensure all possible assistance to those affected in the tragedy, sources said.
