Air India: Things To Know As Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner Crashes While Flying To London Gatwick Airport

• A Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner has crashed in India shortly after take-off from India's western city of Ahmedabad on Thursday
• The aircraft, which is operated by Air India, was travelling to London Gatwick Airport with 242 people on board
• The Air India aircraft crashed into an accommodation housing medical students near the Ahmedabad Airport

An Air India plane crashed on Thursday shortly after it took off from the Ahmedabad Airport, India.

The aircraft was carrying passengers from India to the UK, but crashed into a residential building housing medical students.

Legit.ng brings you what to know so far as the rescue operation continues at the site of the crash.

1. There were 242 people onboard

So far, it has been established that there were 242 people onboard the plane which crashed minutes after departure.

Of the 242 people onboard the aircraft, there were 217 adults, 11 children and two infants, Reuters reports.

There were 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian onboard the ill-fated plane.

2. The crashed plane is a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner

We now know that the plane which crashed on Thursday near the Ahmedabad Airport was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner.

The crashed Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was said to have been delivered to Air India in January 2014, having flown for the first time in 2013.

3. The crashed plane was bound for London-Gatwick Airport

The Indian Air plane was travelling to the UK, where it was supposed to land at the London Gatwick Airport.

It crashed into an accommodation used by doctors. The BBC reports that a woman said her son had to jump from the second floor of the building to escape.

The woman told ANI news outlet:

"My son is safe, and I have spoken to him. He jumped from the second floor, so he suffered some injuries."

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner took off from Ahmedabad at 13:38 local time and disappeared from the radar at an altitude of 625ft, the BBC reports, quoting Flightradar24, a flight tracking website.

4. Bodies recovered so far from Air India crash site

It is not clear if there are survivors or how many people have died, but Reuters is reporting that over 100 bodies have been recovered from the Air India crash site.

The recovered bodies are said to have been taken to a local government hospital for an autopsy.

A senior police officer quoted by Reuters said:

"The building on which it has crashed is a doctors' hostel... we have cleared almost 70% to 80% of the area and will clear the rest soon."

Meanwhile, the BBC reports that 204 bodies have been recovered from the site.

Poonam Patel, a woman whose relative was in the plane, said she heard the news after an hour of the plane's departure.

She told ANI news agency:

"My sister-in-law was going to London. Within an hour, I got news that the plane had crashed."

5. What caused the India Air plane crash?

Details of what led to the plane crash are still sketchy as search and rescue are still ongoing at the site.

However, a video footage shared by the BBC shows the moment the aeroplane crashed and exploded into flames.

Six dead after plane crashes in USA

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that a mother and her little child who had just undergone life-saving surgery were inside the plane that crashed in Philadelphia earlier in the year.

This is the second plane crash in a matter of days in the US after a military Black Hawk flew into a civilian aircraft in Washington DC.

Donald Trump has reacted to both tragic events that claimed many lives while investigations have been launched fully.

Source: Legit.ng