Air

Air India was battling an ‘exceptionally poor’ reputation before the horror incident that claimed the lives of all but one flight AI171 passengers – and many more people on the ground

Air India flights were notoriously plagued with issues in the years before the tragic AI171 disaster last week, with bad publicity from a series of incidents giving the airline what an expert has said was an “exceptionally poor” reputation.

Hospital officials in Ahmedabad, in Gujarat province, western India, confirmed today that 270 people died in the disaster after the doomed flight hit a medical college hostel on Thursday shortly after takeoff – killing all but one of 241 passengers and dozens of people on the ground. Indian officials continue to pick up the pieces this morning, with investigations underway to determine exactly what caused the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner to crash as bereaved families wait to collect the bodies of their loved ones from a post-mortem centre.

The airline has received high praise for its response to the disaster, which comes three years after it was acquired and privatised by Tata steel. Prior to this, Rhys Jones, a luxury travel expert and editor of Head for Points, told The Mirror, Air India’s reputation was “extremely poor” despite it being cleared by European and US regulators. Previous incidents aboard Air India planes have seen window panels break off and passengers complain of dirty interiors.

READ MORE: Air India plane crash UPDATES: Sole survivor reveals horror moment before impact

Window panel chaos

Back in 2018, chaos erupted during a 30-minute Air India flight from Amritsar to Delhi, when intense turbulence resulted in the inside part of a window panel becoming dislodged.

Panic spread across the packed cabin, filled with 240 passengers, while a cabin crew member bravely pushed the panel back in, all while comforting a distressed passenger.

Footage of the terrifying incident was shared widely on social media at the time and shows some overhead oxygen masks being deployed.

Three people were left requiring hospital treatment, as per The Times of India newspaper.

A source told the publication: “Passengers were naturally terrified.” He continued: “The turbulence on Flight AI 462 was such that the head of a seated passenger, who possibly did not have his seat belt fastened, hit the overhead cabin because of a bump.

“The person suffered injuries. Two more had minor injuries. The inside of a window panel came off. The outside window did not break, and there was no depressurisation.”

‘Dirty’ conditions

One year ago, after the Tata group took over the airline, a Dubai-based travel influencer, who vlogs via the YouTube channel Living Jet Setters, reviewed a flight they took aboard a 787-8 Dreamliner, to see if improvements had been made.

The vlogger, who travelled in economy class, was impressed by the speedy check-in and the “great service” they received from “extremely friendly and very nice” cabin crew members. They also noticed improvements with the on-flight food, which they described as “tasty” and “delicious”, and found their seat and headrest to be comfortable.

However, there were a number of areas they found to be “pretty outdated” aboard the aircraft, which had been part of Air India’s fleet for 10.4 years by this point. They noted: “Even the magazines aren’t very well kept”.

Expressing displeasure at the “very poor hygiene” standards that quickly became apparent when they took their seat, the travel reviewer showed footage of stains on the torn seat cushions, as well as on the fold-out tray table. He remarked: “Air India has to improve on this.”

On top of this, their remote control socket was broken, and their in-flight entertainment screen wasn’t working. A glance around the cabin showed he wasn’t alone on this front.

Unfortunately, there were yet more grim finds awaiting him in the “old and dirty” bathroom, which he claimed had “no amenities” or even tissue paper. The air freshener also didn’t seem to be working. Calling upon Air India to update and refurbish their older planes, he asserted: “It’s only been half an hour into the flight, and it’s already dirty”.

Broken seats

In April of this year, as previously reported by the View From The Wing travel publication, an Air India passenger making the 7,500-mile journey from Chicago to Delhi claims she was told “there was a technical issue” with her business class seat, which “wouldn’t recline”.

Instead, she says she was offered two economy seats, which she was allegedly pressed to take.

Although she allegedly made it clear that she wished to keep the broken business class seat and have a partial refund, she was informed this wasn’t an option.

She claims staff continued to press her to take the economy seats, and handed over a form for the seat reassignment.

After sitting in her original business class seat, the passenger allegedly found only a broken tray table. She also learned that her seat opponent had accepted a downgrade from first class, on account of a broken seat.

Two rows of business class had also been cleared out, apart from the crew rest seats in the cabin that were curtained off.

This alleged series of events was told by the woman’s daughter, who uploaded a screenshot of the seat reassignment form to Reddit.

Claiming that her mother had been “scammed”, she wrote: A few hours in, several of the crew/attendants get in the seats, cover themselves with blankets, and go to sleep.

“Then on her flight back home there were no issues with her seat but she watched them run the exact same play on the woman in front of her in line with the form, technical issue, etc – she tells her and multiple of the passengers get to talking about it and corroborate similar happening to them on other flights. Same situation occurs with rows of empty business seats that the crew takes over midway through the flight.”

‘Technical snag’

In a more recent review filmed back in May, aviation vlogger and content creator Noel Phillips documented his “awful” flight aboard Air India’s “Filthy Boeing 797”, showing followers sights such as a “grimy” window button, and a hair left behind by the previous seat occupant. They also spoke about how the power went out, and how passengers were told they’d been a “technical snag”, after learning the flight would be delayed by 45 minutes.

In one part of the video, a baffled Noel, who was travelling business class, shared: “So a passenger across the aircraft has got to their seat, and there’s like a massive bit of metal sticking out of the seat. Okay, they’ve fixed it with a bit of gaffer tape, so that’s all good, I suppose.”

According to Noel, staff initially didn’t mind him taking a review video, but when the technical difficulties began, it allegedly became clear that his camera was no longer welcome, forcing him to be more “discreet”.

While inspecting the toilet, Noel was alarmed to find “liquid matter on the floor”, and also wasn’t majorly won over by the in-flight entertainment, where advertised content such as games, music, and even the flight map, wasn’t available.

Unfortunately, Noel’s reading light was out of order, meaning he couldn’t even read the newspaper he’d been handed at the beginning of the flight. He also advised future travellers to bring along a power bank, as neither the 3-pin plug nor USB were working.

Flights deemed safe despite poor reputation

Mr Jones noted that, before the airline was acquired in 2022, the overall reputation of Air India was “exceptionally poor”, but regulators in the US and Europe continued to allow the airline to take passengers.

He said it was important to note that the airline would not have been able to if any “significant safety lapses” were found. The expert said: “Prior to privatisation, Air India’s reputation was exceptionally poor. But it’s important to remember that the airline was still deemed safe by European and American regulators, who permitted the airline to operate flights to the US, UK and Europe.

“If these bodies had found significant safety lapses then this would not have been permitted, as we saw over the last five years with Pakistan International Airlines which was banned from flying to these destinations until their safety record (and that of the Pakistani regulator) improved.”

The Mirror has reached out to Air India for comment

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Most bodies are charred or mutilated, and the local authorities are working to identify them by matching DNA samples.

At least 270 bodies have been recovered after a London-bound Air India plane crashed in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, as a rescue team continues to search the site of India’s worst aviation disaster in three decades.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, with 242 people on board and 125,000 litres of fuel, lost altitude seconds after takeoff on Thursday and crashed into a residential area, killing all but one on board and at least two dozen others on the ground.

Dhaval Gameti, a doctor at Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad, told The Associated Press news agency on Saturday that they have received 270 bodies so far.

Most bodies were charred or mutilated, and the local authorities are working to identify them by matching DNA samples as their relatives waited to perform their last rites. Authorities said it normally takes up to 72 hours to complete DNA matching.

Nearly 10 bodies – not of the passengers – found at the crash site have been returned to their families after identification, a local official told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Of the 242 passengers and crew on board the Air India plane, 169 were Indian nationals, 53 were British, seven were Portuguese, and one was Canadian.

The lone survivor, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, is under observation at the Civil Hospital for his impact wounds. Gameti said he was “doing very well and will be ready to be discharged any time soon”.

India’s Civil Aviation Minister, Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu, said the flight’s digital data recorder, or the black box, was recovered from a rooftop near the crash site by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), which is leading the investigation into the crash. He said the government will look into all possible theories of what could have caused the crash.

The AAIB said it was working with “full force” to extract the data, which is expected to reveal information about the engine and control settings. Meanwhile, forensic teams are still looking for a second black box.

Jeff Guzzetti, an aviation safety consultant and former crash investigator for both the US National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration, told the AP the investigators should be able to answer some important questions about what caused the crash as soon as next week as long as the flight data recorder is in good shape.

Guzzetti said the investigators are likely looking into whether wing flaps were set correctly, the engine lost power, alarms were going off inside the cockpit, and if the plane’s crew correctly logged information about the hot temperature outside, and the weight of the fuel and passengers. Mistakes in the data could result in the wing flaps being set incorrectly, he added.

There are currently about 1,200 of the 787 Dreamliner aircraft worldwide, and this was the first deadly crash in 16 years of operation, according to experts. The United States planemaker Boeing, whose planes have been plagued by safety issues on other types of aircraft, said it was in touch with Air India and stood “ready to support them” over the incident.

Viswashkumar Ramesh, the only survivor of the Boeing 787 plane crash, said he witnessed other passengers die.

The only survivor of the Air India plane crash says he couldn’t believe he made it out alive after escaping from a broken emergency exit in a deadly crash that killed 241 people.

Shortly after Thursday’s crash, social media footage showed Viswashkumar Ramesh limping down the street in a blood-stained t-shirt and with bruises on his body.

The British national was sitting in seat 11A on the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner that was flying in to London when the plane crashed into a medical college hostel moments after taking off from India’s northwestern city of Ahmedabad.

Ramesh, 40, told India’s national broadcaster DD News from his hospital bed on Friday that he thought he was “also going to die”.

“But when I opened my eyes, I realised I was alive and I tried to unbuckle myself from the seat and escape from where I could. It was in front of my eyes that the air hostess and others [died],” he said.

He was travelling with his brother Ajay, who had been seated in a different row, members of his family said.

“The side of the plane I was in landed on the ground, and I could see that there was space outside the aircraft, so when my door broke, I tried to escape through it and I did,” Ramesh said.

“The opposite side of the aircraft was blocked by the building wall so nobody could have come out of there,” he added.

He explained that the plane had seemed to have come to a standstill midair for a few seconds shortly after taking off and felt the engine thrust, which later “crashed with speed into the hostel”.

Ramesh’s cousin Hiren Kantilal, 19, told the AFP news agency that he called his family in Leicester, in the East Midlands in England, after the crash to tell them he was alive.

“Our plane has been crashed,” Ramesh told his dad, according to his cousin.

“He was bleeding all over him, in the face and everything, and he said, ‘I am just waiting for my brother and I don’t know how I get out of the plane.’

“He said: ‘Do not worry about me, try to find about Ajay Kumar’ and he said: ‘I am totally fine.’”

Kantilal said his cousin had spent about 10 to 15 minutes seeking his brother, and then was whisked away to hospital by the rescue services.

“We are happy Vishwash has been saved, but on the other hand, we are just heartbroken about Ajay,” he told AFP.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the crash site on Friday and met Ramesh at the hospital.

Rescue workers continued to search for missing people and aircraft parts on Friday following the worst aviation crash in a decade.

After the tragic Air India Flight 171 crash killed over 200 people, aviation experts are reassuring viewers on This Morning that aviation is still one of the safest ways to travel

Aviation experts have spoken out following the tragic crash of Air India Flight 171, which killed at least 241 people on board and eight more on the ground, insisting that air travel remains one of the safest modes of transport.

A female aviation analyst appeared on ITV’s This Morning, telling viewers that while plane-related tragedies are devastating, they remain incredibly rare. She said: “Of course there is a risk when you go into a metal container that is seven miles above the planet.

“There is an element of risk to everything we do, but it is still more dangerous to ride your bike down the street or to get in a car than it is to fly on an aircraft.”

She continued to defend air travel, adding: “What doesn’t make the news is the boring story of the aircraft taking off, flying where it’s supposed to, and landing again. We do learn in aviation from the mistakes that have happened or design errors that have happened. Whatever the findings are from this investigation, procedures will be put in place to make sure this can never happen again.”

Meanwhile, another expert sat beside her insisted: “There’s been learning since the dawn of aviation. Things happen, procedures are set in place, design changes are made to prevent it happening again. So every incident, it gets safer.”

The expert comments come in the wake of one of the worst aviation disasters since the tragic 9/11 terror attacks. Air India Flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, crashed into a residential area in Ahmedabad just minutes after take-off on Thursday (June 12).

The aircraft issued a mayday call moments before vanishing from radar, with the captain saying: “Mayday… no thrust, losing power, unable to lift.”

Eyewitnesses captured harrowing footage of the plane descending nose-up before exploding in a massive fireball. There were 241 passengers on board along with crew members.

The crash also claimed the lives of eight people on the ground, including medical students and their family members living in nearby buildings.

British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, miraculously survived the crash. He has spoken to press from the hospital, saying: “The lights started flickering — green and white — then the plane rammed into some establishment… I saw people dying in front of my eyes. I don’t know how I survived.”

His family in Leicester said they were “devastated” to learn of the crash and shocked that Vishwash made it out alive. He has been treated for facial injuries and was pictured being comforted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a hospital visit.

Former This Morning editor Martin Frizell has paid tribute to a former guest on the show, wellness coach Fiongal Greenlaw, who is feared to have died in the crash along with his husband Jamie Meek.

Martin said Fiongal was “vibrant and full of enthusiasm” during his appearance on the ITV show, adding: “Thoughts are with his family and friends and those of his partner Jamie.”

Investigators are hoping to find out what exactly caused the catastrophic engine failure after recovering a black box from the Air India Flight 171.

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One black box found as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the scene and calls the devastation ‘saddening’.

Investigators and rescue teams are searching the site of one of India’s worst aviation disasters, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has met with the lone surviving passenger, a day after an Air India flight fell from the sky and killed 241 people on the plane and multiple people on the ground.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, en route from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick Airport with 242 people on board, went down shortly after takeoff on Thursday, striking a medical college hostel in the western Indian city.

One of the plane’s black boxes has been found, local media reported, and operations on Friday were focused on locating missing people and recovering aircraft fragments and the remaining black box.

An official from the National Disaster Response Force said it deployed seven teams to the crash site and they have recovered 81 bodies so far.

The crash caused extensive damage and left bodies scattered both inside the aircraft and among buildings at the site.

‘The devastation is saddening’

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the scene in his home state of Gujarat on Friday, meeting with rescue officials and some of the injured in hospital. “The scene of devastation is saddening,” he posted on X.

Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau launched an investigation into the incident.

Medics are conducting DNA tests to identify those killed, said the president of the Federation of All India Medical Association, Akshay Dongardiv.

Meanwhile, grieving families gathered outside the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad.

Two doctors at the hospital said the bodies of four medical students killed on the ground were released to their families. They said at least 30 injured students were admitted to the hospital and at least four were in critical condition.

Witnesses described hearing a blast on Thursday before dark smoke engulfed the area. “We were at home and heard a massive sound. It appeared like a big blast,” the Reuters news agency quoted 63-year-old resident Nitin Joshi as saying.

Footage from CCTV cameras captured a fireball rising above the crash site shortly after the Dreamliner took off. Parts of the fuselage were found scattered across the hostel complex, and the aircraft’s tail was lodged in the building’s roof.

Boeing said it was ready to send experts to assist in the investigation, which Air India warned would take time. The crash marks the first fatal accident involving a Dreamliner since the aircraft began commercial service in 2011.

Air India CEO Campbell Wilson arrived in Ahmedabad early on Friday.

Modi meets lone survivor

The sole survivor of the crash was seen in television footage meeting Modi at the government hospital where he was being treated for burns and other injuries.

Viswashkumar Ramesh told India’s national broadcaster he still could not believe he is alive. He said the aircraft seemed to become stuck immediately after takeoff. He said the lights came on and right after that, the plane accelerated but seemed unable to gain height before it crashed.

He said the side of the plane where he was seated fell onto the ground floor of a building and there was space for him to escape after the door broke open. He unfastened his seatbelt and forced himself out of the plane.

“When I opened my eyes, I realised I was alive,” he said.

The crash claimed the life of Vijay Rupani, Gujarat’s former chief minister. Police said most passengers were still strapped in their seats when found.

The passengers included 217 adults, 11 children and two infants, a source told Reuters. Air India said 169 were Indian nationals, 53 were Britons, seven were Portuguese and one was Canadian.

Ahmedabad, India — For the Patel family, April was a month of answered prayers.

The news arrived in a simple email: their son, Sahil Patel, had won a visa lottery. He was one of 3,000 Indians chosen by a random ballot for a coveted two-year United Kingdom work visa, under the British government’s India Young Professionals Scheme.

For the 25-year-old from a middle-class family, it was a pathway from a modest home in Sarod village, 150km (93 miles) from Ahmedabad, the biggest city in the western Indian state of Gujarat, to a new life in London. For his family, the visa was the culmination of every prayer, a chance for the social mobility they had worked their whole lives for.

But less than two months later, that excitement has turned to grief: Sahil was one of the 241 people on Air India 171 who died when the plane crashed into a medical college’s hostel just outside Ahmedabad airport on Thursday, June 12, seconds after taking off.

Only one passenger survived India’s deadliest aviation disaster in more than three decades. Dozens of people on the ground were killed, including several students at BJ Medical College, when the plane erupted into a ball of fire after crashing into their mess. Several others were injured, many of them still in critical care.

Those killed on board include young students on their way to London on scholarships, a family returning home from a wedding in Gujarat, another that was visiting India for Eid, and those like Sahil whose families believed they had won the luck of a lifetime.

‘Why my child?’

In the mess hall at Gujarat’s oldest medical school, Rakesh Deora was finishing his lunch along with more than 70 other medical students. From a small town in Bhavnagar in southeastern Gujarat, Deora was in the second year of his undergraduate studies – but, friends and family recalled, did not like wearing his white coat.

When the plane struck the building, he was killed by the falling debris. In the chaos that followed, many of the bodies – from the plane and on the ground – were charred beyond recognition. Deora’s face was still recognisable when his family saw his body.

At the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, five hours after the crash, another family rushed in. Irfan, 22, was an Air India cabin crew member, his uniform a symbol of pride for his family. They rushed to the morgue, unaware of what they were about to face. When an official showed Irfan’s father his son’s body – his face still recognisable – the man’s composure shattered.

He collapsed against a wall, his voice a raw lament to God. “I have been religious my whole life,” he cried, his words echoing in the sterile hallway. “I gave to charity, I taught my son character … Why this punishment upon him? Why my child?”

Beside him, Irfan’s mother refused to believe that her son was dead. “No!” she screamed at anyone who came near. “He promised he would see me when he got back. You’re lying. It’s not him.”

For another family, recognition came not from a face, but from a small, gold pendant. It was a gift from a husband to his wife, Syed Nafisa Bano, and it was the only way to identify her. Nafisa was one of four members of the Syed family on board, including her husband Syed Inayat Ali, and their two young children, Taskin Ali and Waqee Ali. They had been buzzing with excitement, talking about their return to London after spending a wonderful two months in India celebrating Eid al-Adha with their relatives. On Thursday, their family in Gujarat huddled together in the hospital corridor in mourning, the laughter they had shared consigned to memories.

‘God saved us, but he took so many others’

Just 500 metres from the main crash site, rickshaw driver Rajesh Patel was waiting for his next customer. The 50-year-old was the sole earner for his family. He wasn’t struck by debris, but by the explosion’s brutal heat, which engulfed him in flames. He now lies in a critical care unit, fighting for his life. His wife sits outside the room, her hands clasped in prayer.

In the narrow lanes of the Meghaninagar neighbourhood near the crash site, Tara Ben had just finished her morning chores and was lying down for a rest.

The sudden, deafening roar that shook her home’s tin roof sounded like a gas cylinder explosion, a familiar danger in the densely packed neighbourhood. But the screams from outside that followed told her this was different. “Arey, aa to aeroplane chhe! Plan tooti gayo! [Oh, it’s an aeroplane! It’s a plane crash!]” a man shrieked in Gujarati; his voice laced with a terror she had never heard before. Tara Ben ran out into the chaos. The air was thick with smoke and a smell she couldn’t place – acrid and metallic.

As she joined the crowd rushing to view the crash site, a cold dread washed over her – a mix of gratitude and guilt. It wasn’t just for the victims, but for her own community. She looked back at the maze of makeshift homes in her neighbourhood, where hundreds of families lived stacked one upon another. “If it had fallen here,” she later said, her voice barely a whisper, “there would be no one left to count the bodies. God saved us, but he took so many others.”

Veteran rescue worker Tofiq Mansuri has seen tragedy many times before, but nothing had prepared him for this, he said. For four hours, from mid-afternoon until the sun began to set, he and his team worked in the shadow of the smouldering wreckage to recover the dead with dignity. “The morale was high at first,” Mansuri recalled, his gaze distant, his face etched with exhaustion. “You go into a mode. You are there to do a job. You focus on the task.”

He described lifting body bag after body bag into the ambulances. But then, they found her. A small child, no more than two or three years old, her tiny body charred by the inferno. In that moment, the professional wall Mansuri had built to allow himself to deal with the dead, crumbled.

“We are trained for this, but how can you train for that?” he asked, his voice breaking for the first time. “To see a little girl … a baby … it just broke us. The spirits were gone. We were just men, carrying a child who would never go home.”

Mansuri knows the sight will stay with him. “I won’t be able to sleep for many nights,” he said, shaking his head.

‘Air India killed him’

By 7pm, five hours after the crash, ambulances were arriving at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital in a grim procession, not with sirens blaring, but in a near-silent parade of the dead.

Inside the hospital, a wave of anguish rippled through the crowd each time the doors of the morgue swung open. In one corner, a woman’s voice rose above the din, a sharp, piercing cry of accusation. “Air India killed him!” she screamed. “Air India killed my only son!” Then she collapsed into a heap on the cold floor. No one rushed to help; they simply watched, everyone struggling with their own grief.

Dozens of families waited – for a name to be called, for a familiar face on a list, for a piece of information that might anchor them amid a disorienting nightmare. They huddled in small, broken circles, strangers united by a singular, unbearable fate. Some were called into small, sterile rooms to give DNA samples to help identify their dead relatives.

Then an official’s announcement cut through the air: identified remains would only be released after 72 hours, after post-mortem procedures.

As the night deepened, some relatives, exhausted and emotionally spent, began their journey home, leaving one or two family members behind to keep vigil. But many refused to leave. They sat on the floor, their backs against the wall, their eyes vacant.

While some families still cling to the fragile hope of survival, such as in the case of Rajesh Patel, the rickshaw driver, others are grappling with the grief differently.

Away from the hospital’s frantic chaos, Sahil Patel’s father Salim Ibrahim was away in his village, calm and composed. Over the telephone, his voice did not break but remained chillingly calm, his grief masked by a single practical question.

“Will they give him back to us in a closed box?” he asked. “I just … I cannot bear for anyone to see him like that. I want him to be brought home with dignity.”

The visa that promised a new world to Sahil is now a worthless piece of paper. The plane was a Dreamliner, an aircraft named for the very thing it was meant to carry. The dream of London has dissolved into a nightmare in a morgue. And in the end, all a father can ask for his son is the mercy of a closed lid.

The fatal crash of a 787 Dreamliner that was being operated by Air India from Ahmedabad in northwestern India to London Gatwick Airport has once again fueled scrutiny of both Boeing and the airline, as the two companies have been trying to emerge from years of crises and poor reputations.

The nearly 12-year-old Dreamliner crashed on a densely populated part of the city soon after takeoff, killing 241 of the 242 people on board on Thursday. The total death toll is expected to rise as the plane fell on a medical college hostel and rescue operations are still under way.

The crash raises new concerns for Boeing, which continues to face mounting safety issues that have undermined public trust in its aircraft. These challenges come as the Seattle-based aerospace giant grapples with economic pressures from tariffs imposed by United States President Donald Trump, as well as increased regulatory attention that followed its recent safety issues.

The reason behind the crash is not yet clear.

But it is yet another fatal accident involving a Boeing aircraft, adding to a string of public relations crises that have made many travellers wary of flying on its planes.

“Boeing has become notorious and infamous with flyers at this moment, regardless of the model of the plane. Even the word ‘Boeing’ triggers a lot of people,” Adnan Bashir, an independent global communications and corporate affairs consultant who specialises in crisis communications, told Al Jazeera.

The company’s safety reputation began to unravel in October 2018 when a Lion Air flight operating a 737 MAX crashed due to a malfunction in the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), a programme designed to prevent stalls. That crash killed all 189 people on board.

Just months later, in March 2019, an Ethiopian Airlines flight using the same aircraft model crashed for the same reason, killing all 157 people aboard.

Turmoil resurfaced in January 2024, when a door panel detached mid-flight on an Alaska Airlines route between Ontario, California, and Portland, Oregon.

But until now, the 787 Dreamliner aircraft had maintained a relatively strong safety record.

“This is the first fatal crash of the 787, so despite all of its problems in the early days and all the production issues that Boeing had with the aeroplane, this has had a perfect safety record up to this point,” aviation expert Scott Hamilton told Al Jazeera.

First launched in 2011, Boeing has sold more than 2,500 of the model globally. Air India bought 47 of them, and to date, Boeing has delivered 1,189 Dreamliners.

The model has faced years of safety-related scrutiny. In 2024, John Barnett, a former Boeing quality manager, was found dead under suspicious circumstances after long voicing concerns about the 787. Barnett had alleged that Boeing cut corners to meet production deadlines, including installing inadequate parts. He also claimed that testing revealed a 25-percent failure rate in the aircraft’s emergency oxygen systems.

In 2019, The New York Times published an expose that revealed Boeing had pressured workers not to report safety violations, citing internal emails, documents, and employee interviews.

More recently, another whistleblower, Sam Salehpour, told lawmakers he was threatened for raising safety concerns about Boeing aircraft.

Today’s crash is the latest fatal incident to occur under the leadership of Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, who returned from retirement in 2024 to replace Dave Calhoun. Ortberg had pledged to restore the company’s safety reputation.

Previously, the last fatal Boeing incident occurred in December, when a Jeju Airlines flight crashed after a bird strike, killing 179 of the 181 people on board.

Earlier this month, the US Department of Justice reached a settlement with Boeing that allowed the company to avoid prosecution for previous crashes. The deal required Boeing to pay $1.1bn, including investments to improve safety standards and compensation to victims’ families.

On Wall Street, Boeing’s stock dropped nearly 5 percent from the previous day’s market close.

At this point, experts believe that ultimately, Boeing executives will be careful with their words because of the looming legal challenges they may face if an investigation finds the fault lies with the plane-maker.

“You can almost guarantee there’s going to be lawsuits of some sort. Right now, they’re likely triaging internal and external communication plans with their legal team. Because anything they say in public right now could be used as evidence. And so what they’re going to be doing right now is staying quiet, most likely until more facts come out,” Amanda Orr, founder of the legal and policy communications consultancy firm Orr Strategy Group, told Al Jazeera.

In response to today’s crash, Boeing said, “We are in contact with Air India regarding Flight 171 and stand ready to support them … Our thoughts are with the passengers, crew, first responders and all affected.” Boeing did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

Air India turnaround setback

For Air India, which has been undergoing a major reinvention in the last few years, today’s crash is a major setback in its efforts to rebrand and modernise.

Founded in 1932, the airline was nationalised in 1953. After years of financial struggles and mounting debt, Tata Group acquired the airline for $2.2bn in 2022.

As India’s only long-haul international carrier to Europe and North America, Air India has a strong hold on global travel from across the country. In 2023, the carrier ordered 220 Boeing aircraft, including 20 Dreamliners, 10 777x jets, and 190 of the embattled 737 MAX.

For now, Air India is focused on its response to the crash.

“At this moment, our primary focus is on supporting all the affected people and their families. We are doing everything in our power to assist the emergency response teams at the site and to provide all necessary support and care to those impacted,” said N Chandrasekaran, chairperson of Tata Sons, the holding company of Tata Group, in a statement provided to Al Jazeera.

“I express our deep sorrow about this incident. This is a difficult day for all of us at Air India. Our efforts now are focused entirely on the needs of our passengers, crew members, their families and loved ones,” Craig Wilson, the airline’s CEO, said in a video statement.

The airline has experienced a few fatal accidents in recent years. In 2020, an Air India Express flight skidded off the runway in Kozhikode in India, killing 20. A similar accident in Mangalore involving a 737-800 claimed 156 lives.

Despite the shock of today’s crash, flying remains one of the safest modes of travel. According to a 2024 study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the risk of dying in a commercial airline accident is one in every 13.7 million passengers. This continues to be the safest decade in aviation history.

Footage shows the only known survivor of the Air India Flight AI171 crash, 40-year-old Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, limping along a road near the wreckage as a medic helps him. Police say he leapt from emergency exit row 11A moments before the plane with 242 people on board crashed.

June 12 (UPI) — Police in the Indian city of Ahmedabad said at least one person survived the crash of an Air India plane Thursday that was carrying 242 people.

The survivor has been identified as a British citizen named Vishwash Kumar Ramesh.

“Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly,” Ramesh told Hindustan Times.

Ahmedabad’s police chief told the BBC that 204 bodies had been recovered from the site, although it was not immediately clear whether they were people who were on the ground or on the plane at the time of impact.

Air India previously announced that its flight AI171, which was carrying 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian national. Air India CEO Campbell Wilson has since explained the plane was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members.

The plane, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, lifted off from Ahmedabad Airport at about 1:38 p.m. local time en route to London Gatwick Airport but crashed after reaching an altitude of 625 feet shortly after takeoff into a residential area near the Ahmedabad airport.

Part of the plane struck the dining area of B.J. Medical College. Federation of All India Medical Association Vice President Dr. Divyaansh Singh announced in a X post that reports indicate there are 10 to 20 casualties from its student body and resident doctors. He also has requested those in or near Ahmedabad donate blood to help those injured in the accident.

Ahmedabad Police also posted a list Thursday of 25 people who were injured, most of whom are between the ages of 18 to 20.

Air India Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran announced in a statement that he and the airline’s parent company Tata Group “are deeply anguished by the tragic event involving Air India Flight 171.”

Chandrasekaran further explained that his company will cover the medical expenses of those injured, provide support to B.J. Medical College and give around $117,000 to the to the families of each person who died in the crash.

He concluded the statement by noting “We remain steadfast in standing with the affected families and communities during this unimaginable time.”

An Air India passenger plane bound for London with more than 240 people on board has crashed in India’s northwestern city of Ahmedabad, the airline says.

Firefighters doused the smoking wreckage of the plane, which would have been fully loaded with fuel shortly after takeoff on Thursday, and an adjacent multistorey building.

The airline said the Gatwick Airport-bound flight was carrying 242 passengers and crew. Of those, Air India said, there were 169 Indians, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese and one Canadian.

Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, the director general of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, told The Associated Press news agency that Air India Flight 171 crashed into a residential area called Meghani Nagar five minutes after taking off at 1:38pm (08:08 GMT). He said 244 people were on board the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner and it was not immediately possible to reconcile the discrepancy with Air India’s numbers.

All efforts were being made to ensure medical aid and relief support at the site, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu posted on X.

The 787 Dreamliner is a wide-body, twin-engine plane. This is the first crash ever of the aircraft, according to the Aviation Safety Network database.

Boeing said it was aware of the reports of the crash and was “working to gather more information”.

The last major passenger plane crash in India was in 2020 when an Air India Express Boeing 737 skidded off a hilltop runway in southern India, killing 21 people.

The deadliest air disaster in India was on November 12, 1996, when a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight collided midair with a Kazakhstan Airlines flight near Charki Dadri in Haryana state, killing all 349 people on board the two planes.

Video shows an Air India passenger plane losing height shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad then crashing into a neighbourhood near the city’s main airport. More than 200 people were on board and there are fears of yet more casualties on the ground.

AP

Where was the plane going?

When and where did it crash?

Who was on board?

AN influencer and extreme sports enthusiast died after “tumbling through the air” in a 60ft plunge off a British mountain

Maria Eftimova, 28, went hiking up the 3,000ft peak before slipping on rocky ground and tumbling down the mountain to her death.

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Maria suffered fatal head injuries and, despite the best efforts of medical staff, was tragically pronounced dead at the scene.

The influencer, with more than 10,000 followers, was tackling the notorious Tryfan mountain in Snowdonia, North Wales, when she fell to her death.

An inquest into her death heard she was climbing the mountain’s notorious north ridge – a popular but dangerous scrambling route.

Maria was an experienced mountaineer and had completed an ice-climbing course in Norway shortly before the horror unfolded.

The inquest has heard how she posed for a “Mexican wave” with friends before she fell to her death.

Fellow climber Harry Jones said the group were going up the face one-by-one when he witnessed Maria’s tragic fall.

He added: “I could see on one particular ledge Maria stopped in order to get a handhold to pull herself up, I was six ft below her, to the left.

“She swung her right leg up to pull herself up. I asked ‘Got it well?’ and she said ‘I think so.”

He said moments later he witnessed Maria “flying over me” and down the mountainside.

The 60ft plummet left Maria with horrific injuries, including a fractured skull..

Coroner Kate Robertson returned a conclusion of accidental death and passed on her condolences to Maria’s family and friends.

Maria, of St Helens, originally from Sofia, Bulgaria, showcased her outdoor lifestyle online.

Following her tragic death a fundraiser was set up by friends to help cover repatriation costs.

Maria’s tragic death on February 22nd came less than a week after Dr Charlotte Crook, 30, also died while climbing in the same region.

An inquest heard Dr Crook plunged 30ft to her death while walking on Glyder Fach with a fellow medic.

Both women were attended to by Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation.

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Speaking of Maria’s accident, the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue team said: “A group was ascending the north-ridge when one of them fell 20 metres into steep terrain.

“Passers-by with climbing equipment abseiled down and made her safe, and a team member already nearby made his way down and started CPR.

“Colleagues from Welsh Ambulance Service stood by at base while the Coastguard helicopter dropped team members onto the mountain.

“Unfortunately, the casualty had not survived her injuries, and she was brought down to Oggie base.

“The thoughts of all involved are with the casualties families and friends, thank you to all the members of the public who tried to help.”

Neil Oakes, who was on a slightly different route up the mountain at the time Maria fell, told of his horror at witnessing the tragedy unfold.

He said: “I turned and saw Ms Eftimova tumbling through the air below me. She was already in freefall.

“I knew there was going to be an impact on the rocky outcrop below so I turned away for a split second. I was shouting ‘No, no, no, no.’

“When I turned back she was on the ledge below. I knew that it was serious.

“I said ‘She’s gone. She’s fallen.’ I was in shock.”

LEOPOLD, Ind. — On the ceiling of Abbie Brockman’s middle school English classroom in Perry County, the fluorescent lights are covered with images of a bright blue sky, a few clouds floating by.

Outside, the real sky isn’t always blue. Sometimes it’s hazy, with pollution drifting from coal-fired power plants in this part of southwest Indiana. Knowing exactly how much, and what it may be doing to the people who live there, is why Brockman got involved with a local environmental organization that’s installing air and water quality monitors in her community.

“Industry and government is very, very, very powerful. It’s more powerful than me. I’m just an English teacher,” Brockman said. But she wants to feel she can make a difference.

In a way, Brockman’s monitoring echoes the reporting that the Environmental Protection Agency began requiring from large polluters more than a decade ago. Emissions from four coal-fired plants in southwest Indiana have dropped 60% since 2010, when the rule took effect.

That rule is now on the chopping block, one of many that President Trump’s EPA argues is costly and burdensome for industry.

But experts say dropping the requirement risks a big increase in emissions if companies are no longer publicly accountable for what they put in the air. And they say losing the data — at the same time the EPA is cutting air quality monitoring elsewhere — would make it tougher to fight climate change.

Rule required big polluters to say how much they are emitting

At stake is the Greenhouse Gas Reporting program, a 2009 rule from President Obama’s administration that affects large carbon polluters like refineries, power plants, wells and landfills. In the years since, they’ve collectively reported a 20% drop in emissions, mostly driven by the closure of coal plants.

And what happens at these big emitters makes a difference. Their declining emissions account for more than three-quarters of the overall, if modest, decline in all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions since 2010.

The registry includes places not usually thought of as big polluters but that have notable greenhouse gas emissions, such as college campuses, breweries and cereal factories. Even Walt Disney World in Florida, where pollution dropped 62% since 2010, has to report along with nearly 10,600 other places.

“We can’t solve climate change without knowing how much pollution major facilities are emitting and how that’s changing over time,” said Jeremy Symons, a former EPA senior climate advisor now at Environmental Protection Network, an organization of ex-EPA officials that monitors environmental policies. The group provided calculations as a part of the Associated Press’ analysis of impacts from proposed rule rollbacks.

Symons said some companies would welcome the end of the registry because it would make it easier to pollute.

Experts see a role for registry in cutting emissions

It’s not clear how much the registry itself has contributed to declining emissions. More targeted regulations on smokestack emissions, as well as coal being crowded out by cheaper and less polluting natural gas, are bigger factors.

But the registry “does put pressure on companies to … document what they’ve done or at least to provide a baseline for what they’ve done,” said Stanford University climate scientist Rob Jackson, who heads Global Carbon Project, a group of scientists that tally national carbon emissions yearly.

Gina McCarthy, a former EPA administrator under Obama, said the registry makes clear how power plants are doing against each other, and that’s an inducement to lower emissions.

“It is money for those companies. It’s costs. It’s reputation. It’s been, I think, a wonderful success story and I hope it continues.”

The potential end of the reporting requirement comes as experts say much of the country’s air goes unmonitored. Nelson Arley Roque, a Penn State professor who co-authored a study in April on these “monitoring deserts,” said about 40% of U.S. lands are unmonitored. That often includes poor and rural neighborhoods.

“The air matters to all of us, but apparently 50 million people can’t know or will never know’’ how bad the air is, Roque said.

EPA seeks to cancel money to fund some air monitoring

The EPA is also trying to claw back money that had been earmarked for air monitoring, part of the termination of grants that it has labeled as targeting diversity, equity and inclusion. That includes $500,000 that would have funded 40 air monitors in a low-income and minority community in the Charlotte, N.C., area.

CleaneAIRE NC, a nonprofit that works to improve air quality across the state that was awarded the grant, is suing.

“It’s not diversity, equity and inclusion. It’s human rights,” said Daisha Wall, the group’s community science program manager. “We all deserve a right to clean air.”

Research strongly links poor air quality to diseases like asthma and heart disease, with a slightly less established link to cancer. Near polluting industries, experts say what’s often lacking is either enough data in specific locations or the will to investigate the health toll.

Indiana says it “maintains a robust statewide monitoring and assessment program for air, land and water,” but Brockman and others in this part of the state, including members of Southwestern Indiana Citizens for Quality of Life, aren’t satisfied. They’re installing their own air and water quality monitors. It’s a full-time job to keep the network of monitors up and running, fighting spotty Wi-Fi and connectivity issues.

Fighting industry is a sensitive subject, Brockman added. Many families depend on jobs at coal-fired power plants, and poverty is real. She keeps snacks in her desk for the kids who haven’t eaten breakfast.

“But you also don’t want to hear of another student that has a rare cancer,” she said.

Walling, Borenstein, Bickel and Wildeman write for the Associated Press. AP writer Matthew Daly contributed to this report from Washington.

Walking holidays don’t need to involve remote landscapes and hiking boots – there’s one beautiful European city that you’ll want on the radar as it’s been named the most walkable

Europe is full of incredible cities packed with heaps of history, culture and amazing food. However there’s one particular tourist hotspot that’s been hailed as a must-visit for those who love to get their steps in on holiday.

Rome has been declared as Europe’s ‘most walkable city’ by experts at GuruWalk. They explained: “The Eternal City remains a key destination for travellers fascinated by ancient history. The Colosseum, the Pantheon and the Baroque squares make Rome an open-air museum that deserves to be explored thoroughly, step by step.”

Of course the Italian capital is already a firm favourite with tourists, attracting millions of visitors every year. The Colosseum is one of its most popular landmarks; the largest amphitheatre ever built, in its heyday it could hold up to 80,000 spectators who came for the gladiators, plays and other entertainment.

Meanwhile you can easily achieve your 10,000 daily steps goal with a stroll along to the iconic Spanish Steps. There are 135 steps and if you can handle it, you’ll be rewarded with unrivalled views of the city.

READ MORE: Beautiful UK island has ‘Caribbean-worthy beaches’ with crystal-clear waters

Next on the itinerary should be a trip to Trevi Fountain. The 26.3 metre high fountain is the largest Baroque fountain in the world, and an estimated €3000 are thrown in every day (the money is given to charity each year). Legend has it that if you throw one coin over your shoulder it guarantees you’ll return to Rome, throwing in a second will ensure a new romance and, finally, a third coin thrown in will lead to marriage.

Currently the Trevi Fountain is free to visit as it’s a public attraction, but be warned that it can get very crowded especially during the summer months. In fact, local authorities are considering implementing a form of ticketing to try and manage the large numbers of tourists which it attracts.

READ MORE: Beautiful European city with £2 beers is just three hours from the UK

From the fountain, it’s possible to walk across to the Pantheon, one of the city’s best preserved Ancient Roman buildings. The former temple has been in continuous use, and nowadays you can learn plenty about Roman culture and design.

Other must-see sights include Vatican City – home of the Pope – which is host to world-famous artwork including Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, as well as the breathtaking St Peter’s Square.

For those who love a dose of culture, then a trip to Castel Sant’Angelo should be on the cards. Once Rome’s tallest building, now it’s a museum that hosts heaps of art, sculptures and Roman artefacts.

Oh, and if you’re one of those people who does think about the Roman Empire almost every day, you’ll need to leave space on the itinerary for a visit to the Roman Forum which plays home to ruins of ancient buildings, monuments, shrines and temples.

Rome wasn’t the only city to impress in the rankings of Europe’s most walkable cities. The top 10 cities were:

1. Rome, Italy
2. Budapest, Hungary
3. Madrid, Spain
4. Prague, Czech Republic
5. Barcelona, Spain
6. Lisbon, Portugal
7. London, UK
8. Florence, Italy
9. Amsterdam, Netherlands
10. Berlin, Germany

You can check out the full rankings on blog.guruwalk.com.

Do you have a story to tell us? Email us at [email protected]

LORRAINE Kelly has insisted that she’s ‘not done yet’ after ITV slashed her daytime show by 30 minutes.

The legendary breakfast TV host has broken her silence after the commercial broadcaster announced its daytime massacre.

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Lorraine, 65, has been appearing on ITV breakfast screens for over four decades.

She joined the original breakfast TV station TV-am in 1994 as its Scotland Correspondent.

When the Camden-based company lost its licence, she was one of only a few stars who made the switch to GMTV in 1993.

Since then she has been a mainstay fixture on ITV screens in various iterations of the morning format.

However, the commercial network has announced sweeping changes to its daytime output.

From January, Lorraine will only take to the airwaves for 30 weeks of the year and for only half an hour at a time.

Following the announcement, fears rose that the veteran presenter could quit the channel entirely.

However, she insisted that she was not quite done yet when she spoke to Tom Kerridge on the Proper Tasty podcast.

“I’ve been doing telly for over 40 years. It’s mad isn’t it? It’s absolutely crazy,” Lorraine remarked.

“I started in breakfast telly in 1984, and I’m still getting away with it. Extraordinarily.

“40 years in TV last year was incredible. I got a BAFTA. “Here’s a BAFTA for being alive.” I thought, “Hang on a minute, I’m not done yet”.’

However, the star did allude that she likes to do different projects away from her

She continued: “Not so much in the morning, but if I do a wee show on Channel 4, or The Last Leg, or something like that. You can be unleashed. And I quite like that. 

“You do have to have a self-edit button, and I’m finding mine is not operating as much as it should. 

Lorraine added: “So, when I’m sitting there and I look at something and I think, “Gosh, what an absolute k**b that person is,” or how silly they are, I say it and I don’t realise I’ve said it. So I have to watch.”

This comes after it was reported that Lorraine had refused an ‘insulting offer’ from bosses to sign a new contract.

A source explained that she declined the opportunity to merge her daytime show with Good Morning Britain, and was “prepared to walk away.”

A new role titled ‘Head of Lorraine’ has also been created to oversee the daytime changes, but the contract only lasts for 12-months.

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