An Air India flight bound for London Gatwick carrying 242 passengers and crew including 53 Britons has crashed shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad Airport in the northwestern Indian state of Gujarat.
Air India flight 171, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, careened back to earth in the densely populated Meghani area of the city just minutes after leaving the runway at 1:17pm local time.
Shocking images shared to social media showed chunks of the plane's fuselage and tail protruding from a demolished building.
Firefighters at the scene doused the smouldering piles of debris with their hoses as photos and videos taken by horrified residents in Meghani showed a huge plume of thick black smoke emanating from the crash site.
The cause of the crash is not yet known, but 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.
