
Deadly civilian plane crashes in India over the decades
June 12 — More than 100 people were killed when an Air India plane bound for London with 242 people on board crashed minutes after taking off from India's western city of Ahmedabad on Thursday, authorities said, one of the country's worst aviation disasters.
Following are details of some other airline accidents in India in recent years:
5 Air India Flight AI171 crashed into well- known medical college while students were having lunch inside.
EyePress News/Shutterstock
AUGUST 2020
Twenty-one people died when an Air India Express Boeing 737 plane skidded off the runway in the southern city of Kozhikode during heavy rain, plunged into a valley and crashed nose-first into the ground.
MAY 2010
An Air India Boeing 737 flight from Dubai overshot the runway at the airport in the southern city of Mangaluru and crashed into a gorge, killing 158 people on board.
5 A family member cries upon hearing the news of her brother who died in the crash June 12th.
REUTERS
5 Debris at the site of the Thursday morning plane crash.
SIDDHARAJ SOLANKI/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
JULY 2000
More than 50 people were killed when a state-owned Alliance Air flight between Kolkata and the capital, New Delhi, crashed in a residential area of the eastern city of Patna.
NOVEMBER 1996
Some 350 passengers were killed when a Saudi Arabian Airlines plane and a Kazakhstan Airlines plane collided head-on mid-air over the town of Charkhi Dadri in the northern Haryana state.
APRIL 1993
An Indian Airlines Boeing 737 crashed during takeoff in the western city of Aurangabad and killed 55 people on board.
5 Rescue officials work at the site where Air India flight 171 crashed in a residential area near the airport in Ahmedabad.
AP
AUGUST 1991
An Indian Airlines Boeing 737 flight from Kolkata crashed during descent near Imphal, the capital of the hilly north-eastern state of Manipur, killing all 69 occupants onboard.
5 Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
REUTERS
OCTOBER 1988
More than 130 passengers died when an Indian Airlines Boeing 737, flying from Mumbai to Ahmedabad, crashed as it was coming in to land.
JANUARY 1978
All 213 passengers of an Air India flight were killed when the captain lost control of the plane after take-off and it plunged into the Arabian Sea off the coast of Mumbai, India's financial hub.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


UPI
a day ago
- UPI
Air India identifies crew from crash, announces service reductions
Search and recovery teams examine the tail section of Air India flight 171 after it crashed in Ahmedabad, India last week. Photo by Hanif Sindh/UPI | License Photo June 20 (UPI) -- Air India on Friday named the cabin crew members who died in last week's crash aboard Flight AI171, which went down just after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad, India. The airline posted to X a statement that identified the 10 crew members killed in the incident, and called them "beloved colleagues, cherished friends, and the soul of every journey they were a part of." Air India also posted the name of the flight's First Officer on Thursday, and then announced that a temporary reduction in flights aboard Boeing 787 and 777 aircraft would begin as of Saturday and continue into mid-July. "The reductions arise from the decision to voluntarily undertake enhanced pre-flight safety checks," the company explained in a social media post, "as well as accommodate additional flight durations arising from airspace closures in the Middle East." "The objective is to restore schedule stability and minimize last-minute inconvenience to passengers," it added. As a result, flights AI169/170 from Amritsar and AI145/146 from Mopa, both Indian cities, to London Gatwick have been suspended until at least July 15, while flight AI961/962 between Delhi, India, and Nairobi, Kenya, has been suspended until at least June 30. The frequency of flights to North America, Europe, Australia and East Asia continue but have been reduced until July 15. Air India Flight AI171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, was bound for London when it crashed last week in a populated area and struck a medical college shortly after takeoff, killing more than 260 people. Air India publicly identified the captain Tuesday. The investigation into why Flight AI171 crashed continues. It has been publicly stated that the plane had a new engine, as well as another that wasn't due for servicing until December. The aircraft's black box is being sent to the United States for analysis due to its reportedly being damaged in the crash. There has also been speculation that either two of its engines failed or there was either a total hydraulic or electronic malfunction. The entire Air India Dreamliner fleet has been under inspection, and so far, 26 out of its 33 Dreamliners have been returned to service.


New York Times
2 days ago
- New York Times
As Dense Cities Encircle India's Busiest Airports, Dangers Multiply
Bhavesh Patni had just sat down with his family for a lunch of eggplant and potato curry when an Air India plane took off from the runway behind their home in the city of Ahmedabad, flew over their heads and crashed into a medical college campus visible from their building. As Mr. Patni climbed up to his terrace to watch the flames from a disaster that would ultimately kill 241 people on the plane and at least 34 on the ground, he shuddered as he thought about his family's proximity to the nightmare below them. In Ahmedabad, as in cities across this country of 1.4 billion people, there is little buffer between the increasingly busy airport and the densely populated neighborhoods that encircle it. That puts residents in the danger zone if anything goes wrong during takeoffs and landings, the time when most aviation accidents occur. This reality illustrates a pressing challenge for India. The country's growing wealth has given it the means to be more on the move. Air passenger traffic has doubled over the past decade, as has the number of operational airports. But India's expanding aviation ambitions have been superimposed on existing urban infrastructures that are already pushed to the limit by the rapid growth of cities. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Air India says plane 'well-maintained' before crash
Air India's Boeing plane was "well-maintained" before it crashed a week ago, killing all but one of 242 people on board, the airline said Thursday. Indian authorities are yet to detail what caused the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner to hurtle to the ground in the western city of Ahmedabad, where at least 38 people were also left dead. As investigators attempt to retrieve data from the plane's black boxes -- the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder -- the airline said that no problems were detected with the jet before the disaster. "The plane was well-maintained, with its last major check in June 2023," Air India said in a statement. "Its right engine was overhauled in March 2025, and the left engine was inspected in April 2025. Both the aircraft and engines were regularly monitored, showing no issues before the flight," the airline said. The London-bound jet burst into a fireball when it smashed into a residential area of Ahmedabad moments after takeoff. Initial checks since the crash on Air India's Dreamliners "did not reveal any major safety concerns", the country's civil aviation regulator said Tuesday. India's aviation investigative unit said Thursday the probe was "progressing steadily". "Key recovery work, including site documentation and evidence collection, has been completed, and further analysis is now underway," the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said in a statement. Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian on board the flight, as well as 12 crew members. The airline said Thursday the pilots were accomplished flyers. "The flight was led by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, a highly experienced pilot and trainer with over 10,000 hours flying widebody aircraft," it said. "First Officer Clive Kunder, had over 3,400 hours of flying experience." While investigators try to piece together what went wrong, families of dozens of victims are still waiting for their loved ones to be identified. As of Thursday, 210 victims have been identified through DNA testing, state health minister Rushikesh Patel said. bur-rsc/jfx