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The Minister of Civil Aviation held a press conference regarding the Air India 171 crash and detailed the developments since the incident that took place on Thursday afternoon.
The Air India plane moments before it crashed after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport on June 12. (Image: PTI)
As probe into the Air India 171 crash begins, the Ministry of Civil Aviation on Saturday detailed how the incident took place on Thursday afternoon and expressed hope about finding out about cause of the crash once the data from the black box, which was recovered last evening, is decoded.
Samir Kumar Sinha, Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, said that the London-bound flight took off at 1.39 pm and crashed at a distance of 2 km from the airport. He confirmed that the pilot sent a Mayday call to the Air Traffic Controller; however, as the ATC tried to contact the plane, no response was received.
“On 12th June around 2 PM, we received the information that the plane going from Ahmedabad to Gatwick, London had crashed. We immediately got detailed information about this through ATC Ahmedabad. This was an AIC 171 and there were a total of 242 people on board, including 230 passengers, 2 pilots, and 10 crew members. This plane took off at 1:39 pm and within a few seconds, after reaching a height of about 650 feet, it started sinking, i.e., it started losing height. At 1:39 pm, the pilot informed Ahmedabad ATC that it was a May Day, i.e., full emergency. According to ATC, when it tried to contact the plane, it did not receive any response,” Sinha said at a joint press briefing with Minister of Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu.
#WATCH | #AhmedabadPlaneCrash | Delhi: Samir Kumar Sinha, Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, says “On 12th June around 2PM, we received the information that the plane going from Ahmedabad to Gatwick London had crashed. We immediately got detailed information about this… pic.twitter.com/AtrriJeCQn– years (@ani) June 14, 2025
“Exactly after 1 minute, this plane crashed in Medhaninagar, which is located at a distance of about 2 km from the airport. The captain of the plane was Sumit Sabharwa,l and the first officer was Clive Sundar. As far as the entire history of the plane is concerned, before this accident, the plane had completed the Paris-Delhi-Ahmedabad sector without any accident. Due to the accident, the runway was closed at 2:30 pm and after completing all the protocols, the runway of Ahmedabad was opened for limited flights from 5 PM,” the secretary added.
Civil Aviation Minister On Air India Plane Crash
Sharing details about the Air India 171 crash two days after the tragic incident, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu on Saturday said that the black box of the aircraft has been recovered and the findings of the report will ascertain how the plane fell from the sky shortly after takeoff.
#WATCH | Delhi: #AhmedabadPlaneCrash | Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu says “The last two days have been, very difficult. The accident that happened near Ahmedabad airport shook the entire nation. My deepest condolences to all the families who have lost… pic.twitter.com/hiSTI4L4gX– years (@ani) June 14, 2025
“One important update from the technical investigation which is happening through the AAIB is the recovery of the black box yesterday around 5 pm from the site, the AAIB team believes that this decoding of the black box is going to give a, in depth insight into what would have actually happened during the process of the crash or moments before the crash itself. We are also eagerly waiting for what the results or the report is going to be once the AAIB goes through its full investigation,” the Minister said.
He expressed condolences to the grieving families and said that the government swung into action quickly after the news of the accident broke.
“I personally rushed to the site to oversee what needs to be done, what support needs to be provided and that was the attitude of the government of Gujarat also. The attitude was the same from the Government of India and the other people at the ministry also. Once we rushed to the site, we already saw the response teams from all the concerned departments were working on ground, actively trying to rescue whatever is possible, trying to cut down the fire and to move the debris so that the bodies can be sent to the hospital at the earliest,” he said.
As many as 241 passengers out of 242 died in the crash, while one British national was the sole survivor.
Mahima Joshi, Sub-Editor at News18.com, works with the India and Breaking team. Covering national stories and bringing breaking news to the table are her forte. She is deeply interested in Indian politics and a…Read More
Mahima Joshi, Sub-Editor at News18.com, works with the India and Breaking team. Covering national stories and bringing breaking news to the table are her forte. She is deeply interested in Indian politics and a… Read More
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