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External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that he is in touch with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel, and Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand regarding the Air India Flight AI171 crash in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
Further, Jaishankar offered profound condolences to the families and offered full support in this hour of grief. https://x.com/drsjaishankar/status/1933411441115050409?s=46&t=TbrKHKgG29uXA1CMFN38Pw "In touch with FS @DavidLammy of the UK, FM @PauloRangel_pt of Portugal and FM @AnitaAnandMP of Canada regarding the Ahmedabad plane crash. Expressed our profound condolences and offered fullest support in this hour of grief," Jaishankar wrote on X. The Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick with 242 passengers crashed in Meghaninagar area at 1:39 pm (IST) shortly after it took off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. 241 people were killed in the crash. As per Air India, the passengers comprised 169 Indians, 53 British nationals, one Canadian and seven Portuguese nationals. World leaders also poured their condolences over the incident, including UK PM Keir Starmer, US President Donald Trump, Japanese PM Shigeru Ishiba, Portuguese PM Luis Montenegro and the Canadian PM Mark Carney. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a review meeting with the officials at the airport in Ahmedabad. He also visited the Air India plane crash site in Ahmedabad and reviewed the ground situation. After the incident, PM Modi also spoke to Union Civil Aviation Minister Rammohan Naidu and Home Minister Amit Shah and took stock of the crash incident. The Civil Aviation Minister informed the Prime Minister that he is rushing to Ahmedabad to oversee rescue and relief operations on the ground, said the Civil Aviation Ministry. The Prime Minister has directed the Minister to ensure all necessary support is extended immediately and asked to be kept regularly updated on the situation, they said. "On 12th Jun, 2025, Air India B787 Aircraft VT-ANB, while operating flight AI-171 from Ahmedabad to Gatwick, has crashed immediately after takeoff from Ahmedabad. There were 242 people on board the aircraft, consisting of 2 pilots and 10 cabin crew," said a senior DGCA official. The aircraft was under the command of Capt Sumeet Sabharwal with First Officer Clive Kundar. Capt Sumeet Sabharwal is an LTC with 8200 hours of experience. The copilot had 1100 hours of flying experience, the official further added. As per ATC, the aircraft departed from Ahmedabad at 1339 IST (0809 UTC) from runway 23. It gave a mayday Call to ATC, but thereafter, no response was given by the aircraft to the calls made by ATC. Aircraft immediately after departure from Runway 23, fell on the ground outside the airport perimeter. Heavy black smoke was seen emanating from the accident site, said the official. (ANI)
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