Indian conspiracy theorists are today making baseless claims that Pakistan is to blame for the Air India tragedy.
The Gatwick-bound 787 Dreamliner jet was engulfed in a ball of flames in the Meghani area of the city just minutes after leaving the runway.
There were 242 passengers on board the plane. Air India said there were 169 Indians, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese and one Canadian.
Eleven of those on board were children, including two newborns. Two pilots and 10 cabin crew were also aboard.
A British father sitting in seat 11A miraculously survived the fireball crash. Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, spoke from the safety of a hospital bed after escaping from the fallen Flight 171 this morning.
The passenger, who was in seat 11A when the plane came down in a residential area, recalled: ‘Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly.’
The cause of the crash is not yet known, but that hasn’t stopped conspiracists making baseless claims on social media, with sabotage among the hypotheses being thrown about on X.
Pakistani Foreign Minister and deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said today he was ‘saddened’ by the deadly plane crash, writing on X: ‘Condolences over the loss of precious lives in this tragic incident. Our sympathies are with the families of the victims in this hour of grief.’
So far, rescue teams supported by the military have recovered 204 bodies, with casualties from the plane and the area surrounding the crash.
Conspiracy theorists are already flooding the internet after the Air India flight to Gatwick crashed minutes after take off. But some have been quick to knock them down
Air India’s Flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad Airport in Gujarat at around 1.40pm local time, officials said.
Tata Sons, which owns Air India, will offer around £86,000 to the families of each person who died in the Ahmedabad plane crash, the company said.
Aviation expert Sanjay Lazar noted that the Flight 171, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, was only 11 years old, so was unlikely to have underlying technical issues. The plane was under the command of captain Summeet Sabharwal, who had 8,200 hours of experience.
It is the latest in a tragic spate of incidents involving crisis-hit Boeing and its planes.
Just six days ago the plane maker reached a deal with the US Department of Justice to avoid prosecution over crashes involving a 737 Max plane that killed 346 people in Ethiopia and Indonesia in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
Last December a Boeing jet skidded off a runway in South Korea, crashing into a concrete wall and causing the plane to burst into flames.
All but two of the 181 people aboard the Boeing 737-800 were killed – the youngest victim being a three-year-old boy.
Today’s Air India flight reportedly reached an altitude of just 625 feet before it began to descend, according to flight tracking service Flightradar 24, which declared the plane’s transponder signal dropped just seconds after it left the runway.
‘We received the last signal from the aircraft at 08:08:51 UTC, just seconds after take off,’ it said.
India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said the plane sent a mayday call moments before the crash.
Air India’s Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran shared a heartfelt statement that read: ‘With profound sorrow I confirm that Air India Flight 171 operating Ahmedabad London Gatwick was involved in a tragic accident today.
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The plane momentarily disappeared from view behind trees and buildings before a massive fireball erupted on the horizon in this horrifying clip
A video posted to social media appeared to show the plane descending in a controlled manner with a high nose angle and landing gear deployed
Parts of the jet appeared to have smashed into the BJ Medical College and Civil Hospital
Remnants of the fuselage and the landing gear were seen dangling through a gaping hole in the side of what appeared to be a canteen, with half-finished plates of food clearly visible on benches inside
Civilians surround parts of the jet that seemingly smashed into a medical college canteen
The Air India flight crashed minutes after taking off from Ahmedabad airport
Chunks of the plane’s fuselage and tail were seen protruding from a demolished building
‘Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the families and loved ones of all those affected by this devastating event. At this moment, our primary focus is on supporting all the affected people and their families.
‘We are doing everything in our power to assist the emergency response teams at the site and to provide all necessary support and care to those impacted.’
Gatwick Airport subsequently confirmed the flight that was due to land at 6.25pm had crashed on departure.
According to data logs recorded at 30-second intervals showed the plane remained on the ground or was taxiing slowly for over four minutes after it first registered on public trackers.
The plane took off and reached 625ft, but no further gains in altitude were recorded before the crash.
India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said the plane sent a mayday call moments before the tragedy unfolded.
Experts say the plane appeared to be exhibiting signs of engine failure – with a former pilot suggesting that it may have suffered multiple bird strikes as it took off.
Former pilot Saurabh Bhatnagar told NDTV: ‘From the footage I have seen, it looks like prima facie the case of multiple bird hits, wherein both engines have lost power.
‘The takeoff was perfect and just I believe short of taking the gear up the aircraft started descending, which only happens if the engine loses power or the aircraft stops delivering the lift.’
‘These are unconfirmed reports coming from the pilot fraternity,’ he added. Mr Bhatnagar also observed that the jet appeared to come down in a ‘controlled’ fashion.
‘Immediately after takeoff the landing gear was still up – so that means thereafter the aircraft coming down in a sort of controlled fashion. It was a distress situation.’
Aviation security expert Julian Bray told MailOnline that he was concerned as the Dreamliner was, in his view, ‘state-of-the-art’.
He said: ‘It’s a Boeing Dreamliner that has gone down – not certain whether they’ve managed to get anybody off the plane.
‘If it has indeed crash-landed and they can deploy the chutes out then they should be able to get people off in 90 seconds.
Firefighters working at the scene of the Boeing air crash in Ahmedabad, Gujarat state, India
Rescue team members work as smoke rises at the site where the Air India plane crashed
Rescue teams spray water over charred buildings as smoke rises at the Air India crash site
A general view of part of the departure hall that is used by Air India at Gatwick Airport — June 12, 2025
‘I am aware there are fire appliances in attendance – this is a major incident.
‘It is very disappointing that it is a Dreamliner as it is a state-of-the-art Boeing.
‘We cannot rule out security issues. But this is all speculation on my part.’
He added to Sky News: ‘This is very, very worrying as it happened on departure. We don’t know what’s happened so if it happened on departure… obviously a major incident plan has been put in place.
‘The Dreamliner is Boeing’s ‘star product’, you might say, and it does have several backup systems and safety systems. We have to look at security issues and decide whether that is a factor here.
‘We can only hope the passengers and crew on-board are safe.
‘What I am worried about is if an incident has happened while it was taking off we have to look at the security side of things and work out where there was some evil intent behind this.
‘Basically, the aircraft these days sort of fly themselves so there shouldn’t have been a problem in taking off, especially with a Dreamliner. It has a good track record. We really need more detail.
‘What I would to say to people gathering at Gatwick… you will find that on the operator’s website there will be instructions, there will be an emergency number and they will confirm if the passenger is on board if you are a family member and they will take you through it and process it that way.
‘We don’t know whether anybody has managed to get away from this. I really hope so.’