KARACHI: Pakistani leaders and the country’s national carrier offered condolences on Thursday as more than 290 people were killed when an Air India plane with 242 people on board crashed minutes after taking off from the western city of Ahmedabad in the world’s worst aviation disaster in a decade. The dead included people on the ground as the aircraft — headed for Gatwick Airport, south of the British capital — crashed on a medical college hostel during lunch hour. At least one passenger is known to have survived the crash, police said.

The crash occurred when the aircraft was taking off, TV channels reported.

Air India says the flight included Indians, British, Portuguese and a Canadian.