Air India Boeing 787 crashes shortly after takeoff with 242 people on board
An Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad Airport in India on Thursday.
The commercial jet, which was on flight AI717 bound for Gatwick Airport, had 242 people on board, according to initial reports, and crashed into a residential area near the airport.
A video footage shows the aircraft losing altitude before crashing and a large fireball appears.
According to India’s civil aviation regulator, DGCA, the crew sent a mayday message to air traffic control.
https://twitter.com/AviationSafety/status/1933091503536017480
The occupants included 230 passengers and 12 crew members. There were 217 adults and 11 children, of whom 169 were Indian nationals, 43 British, seven Portuguese and one Canadian, according to Reuters.
The 787-8 aircraft, registered VT-ANB, was delivered by Boeing to Air India in January 2014 and was powered by GEnx-1B engines.
This is the first fatal accident involving a Boeing 787, a new-generation widebody aircraft built largely from composite materials.
In a statement, Boeing said it was "aware of initial reports and is working to gather more information."
There are more than 1,000 aircraft in service worldwide today. Earlier this month, Boeing revealed that the 787 fleet had carried more than 1 billion passengers since entering service in 2011.
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