Thirty bodies have so far been recovered after a giant Air India passenger plane bound for London Gatwick crashed shortly after taking off in Ahmedabad, western India on Thursday.
There were 232 passengers and 12 crew members on board, according to aviation directorate chief Faiz Ahmed Kidwai.
The aircraft – a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner – had a total of 256 seats on board.
Details are still emerging from the scene. Here is what we know so far.
Aviation experts say that according to initial footage the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner’s landing gear looks to down and the flaps were not in the right settings and or positions shortly after takeoff . The two engine aircraft seems not to have gained speed and altitude after takeoff.
Air India flight AI171 left Ahmadabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport bound for London Gatwick Airport.
It was scheduled to take off at 09:50 local time (03:50 GMT) and land in Gatwick at 18:25 BST, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.
All operations have been suspended at Ahmedabad’s International Airport until further notice, a spokesperson said.
The passenger plane crashed on departure from Ahmedabad.
According to FlightRadar24, the signal from the aircraft was lost at 10:08 at 625 feet.
It says this was “less than a minute after take-off”.
It crashed into a residential area called Meghani Nagar, according to India’s directorate of civil aviation.
Officials have been instructed to carry out “immediate rescue and relief operations” and to make arrangements on a “war footing,” the chief minister of Gujarat said.
Air India’s chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran said an “emergency centre has been activated” and a support team put in place for families seeking information.
