Two chilling words heard in mayday call from pilot as Air India flight crashed heading to London

53 British nationals are reported to have been on the plane that crashed this morning


This morning it’s been reported that an Air India plane bound for London has crashed. It was carrying 242 passengers in total, 53 of which are British nationals.

Flight AI171, from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, was involved in an accident not long after take-off. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft departed a little after 1:30pm local time, and is believed to have crashed “within minutes”.

The airline said 169 passengers are Indian nationals, 53 are British, one is Canadian and seven are Portuguese. Reuters has reported that 217 adults and 11 children were on board the flight. Those injured have been taken to the nearest hospitals.

A video has since been circulating showing the chilling moment the flight crashed. The plane came down in a nearby residential area. The plane crashed on a hostel building used by doctors, as per Reuters. It had previously been reported all passengers had died, but a single survivor has since been confirmed – and has spoken out.

CW: The below video may be distressing. 

As the news was reported, it was said the Air India pilot made a mayday call just seconds before impact. This suggests the pilot knew something was going wrong, ahead of time.

According to The Express, the last words heard over the radio during the call was “engine failure”. Air Traffic Control did not have time to respond before it was too late.

In a previous statement, Air India said: “Flight AI171, operating Ahmedabad-London Gatwick, was involved in an incident today, 12 June 2025. At this moment, we are ascertaining the details.” The flight company later added: “Air India is giving its full cooperation to the authorities investigating this incident.”

The Foreign Office said: “We are aware of a plane crash in Ahmedabad. The UK is working with local authorities in India to urgently establish the facts and provide support to those involved.”

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