The flight data recorder has been recovered from the wreckage of Thursday’s Air India crash in Ahmedabad, as investigations continued into the cause of the worst aviation disaster in a decade, in which more than 240 people died.
The discovery of one of the aircraft’s two black boxes “marks an important step forward in the investigation”, India’s civil aviation minister, Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu, posted on X on Friday. “This will significantly aid the inquiry into the incident.”
All but one of the 242 passengers and crew onboard the London-bound flight were killed when it ploughed into a residential district shortly after takeoff and exploded. Kanan Desai, the deputy commissioner of police in the city, said 265 bodies had been counted, suggesting at least 24 people died on the ground, but the final death toll remains unconfirmed.
Teams continued on Friday to search the wreckage of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft and the buildings into which it crashed, including a staff hostel at a nearby hospital.
In emotional scenes, hundreds of family members waited for hours at the Civil hospital in the western Indian city to give DNA samples, in the hope of identifying and retrieving their loved ones’ remains. Doctors had worked through Thursday night collecting dental samples from bodies that had been recovered, one told reporters.
Ashfaque Nanabawa, 40, said he was searching for his cousin Akeel Nanabawa, and his cousin’s wife and three-year-old daughter, who had been onboard. He had spoken to his cousin on the plane just before takeoff, he said. “He called us and he said: ‘I am in the plane and I have boarded safely and everything was OK.’ That was his last call.”
Others hunted for people who had been in the damaged buildings. Many of those in the doctors’ hostel were having lunch in the canteen when the plane struck; images of the area in the aftermath showed the aircraft’s wheels and other parts embedded in the walls, while clothes and books belonging to the students lay scattered on the floor. Some steel tumblers and plates, still containing food, remained where they had been abandoned.
The plane, which was bound for London Gatwick, was carrying 169 Indians, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian, whose identities and tragic stories have been emerging as their families have confirmed their loss.
Among the British-based victims was Dr Prateek Joshi, a hospital radiologist based in Derby, his wife, Komi Vyas, also a medic, and their three children. They had shared a beaming selfie moments before takeoff as they sat on the plane. The media outlet NDTV said Vyas had recently left her job at a hospital in Udaipur to take the family to join her husband in the UK.
Akeel Nanabawa, a businessman based in Gloucester, also died, along with his wife, Hannaa Vorajee, and their four-year-old daughter, Sara. In a statement, their family said they were “widely loved and deeply respected. His quiet generosity, her warmth and kindness and their daughter’s bright, joyful spirit made a lasting impact on everyone who knew them. She was a ray of sunshine in her school and they were a pillar of strength in our lives.”
A British man, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who miraculously walked from the wreckage with minor injuries, has described the horror of watching people “dying in front of my eyes”. Speaking on Friday from a hospital bed where he is recovering from burns, Ramesh, 40, told the local broadcaster DD News that before the moment of impact the plane had seemed to be “stuck” in the air.
“When the flight took off, within five to 10 seconds it felt like it was stuck in the air. Suddenly, the lights started flickering – green and white. The aircraft wasn’t gaining altitude and was just gliding before it suddenly slammed into a building and exploded.”
Ramesh, who was sitting in seat 11A, next to one of the emergency exits, had thought he was dead, he said. “Later, I realised I was still alive and saw an opening in the fuselage. I managed to unbuckle myself, used my leg to push through that opening, and crawled out.” He added: “I don’t know how I survived. I saw people dying in front of my eyes – the air hostesses, and two people I saw near me.”
Downing Street said a hotline set up to support British citizens affected by the crash had received almost 300 calls. Foreign Office staff had been in contact with Ramesh to offer consular support, a spokesperson said, while Lindy Cameron, the British high commissioner in India, met the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, on Friday to offer the UK’s condolences and support in the investigation.
Senior members of the British royal family would wear black armbands at Saturday’s trooping the colour parade, at the request of King Charles, Buckingham Palace said. The gesture was “a mark of respect for the lives lost, the families in mourning and all the communities affected by this awful tragedy”, a palace spokesperson said.
Modi toured the site of the crash on Friday and was briefed by officials. “The scene of devastation is saddening,” he said in a post on X. “Our thoughts remain with those who lost their loved ones in this unimaginable tragedy.”
India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is leading the inquiry into the cause of the crash, helped by teams from the US and UK. Experts from Boeing and the engine manufacturer GE Aerospace will also fly out to offer assistance.
Investigators were examining the jet’s engine thrust, its flaps, and why its landing gear remained open, a source told the Reuters news agency, while Indian aviation authorities have ordered the airline to carry out enhanced safety checks on its entire Boeing 787 fleet.
The Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner issued a mayday call shortly before it crashed around lunchtime on Thursday, after lifting barely 100 metres from the ground.
