The federal government still can’t say whether or not any Australian citizens or residents were impacted by the Flight 171 crash in India.
Authorities have confirmed that 241 people died and one survived—Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a 40-year-old British national who sustained visible impact injuries to his chest, eyes, and feet but otherwise seems fine, in what has been dubbed, “the miracle in seat 11A.”
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner carrying 242 passengers and crew crashed into a dormitory for medical students shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad Airport in India during the lunch hour.
Ramesh was able to speak briefly to reporters and told the Hindustan Times that, “Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise, and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly. When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me. Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the disaster was absolutely devastating.
“In this time of tragedy, Australia’s thoughts are with everyone affected,” he posted on the social media platform X.
The Australian High Commission in New Delhi and the Consulate-General in Mumbai are following up with local authorities to determine whether there were any Australians on board, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.
The Air India plane was heading to London’s Gatwick Airport when it crashed just minutes after takeoff.
The crash is the first involving the Dreamliner, a fuel-efficient jet the manufacturer introduced in 2011 as the future of long-distance travel. Boeing calls the plane the best-selling large airliner ever, crediting it with opening hundreds of new routes around the globe.
The company is already struggling after two air disasters involving its smaller jet, the 737 Max, in 2018 and 2019, which killed a total of 346 people in Indonesia and Ethiopia. Those incidents were attributed to a design flaw.More than 1,100 Dreamliners are in service with airlines worldwide, serving some of the longest routes, and Boeing reports a backlog of 889 more. The aircraft which crashed was delivered to Air India in early 2014 and has since taken off and landed more than 8,000 times, according to data analytics firm Cirium.
An investigation will now get underway, with Indian investigators joined by experts from the U.S. and UK to try establish what caused the Dreamliner to crash just 1.5 kilometres (0.9 miles) from the runway at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.
The two pilots were highly experienced, with more than 9,000 flying hours between them, Air India said. Almost immediately after takeoff, the cockpit made a mayday call, then nothing was heard from the aircraft after that. It’s unclear what prompted the call. CCTV footage authenticated by BBC Verify showed that the plane was airborne for only 30 seconds.
