On June 12, tragedy struck when Air India Flight AI171 crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad, India, en route to London. The Boeing 787-8 lost its transponder signal just seconds after reaching an altitude of 625 feet, then slammed into a nearby building, sparking a massive explosion and fire.

The flight was carrying 242 people, most of them Indian and British nationals. Only one person, 40-year-old Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, survived. Speaking from his hospital bed, Ramesh said he heard a loud noise right before the crash but still doesn’t understand how he made it out alive.

The pilot, Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, was highly experienced with more than 8,200 flight hours. While reports suggest a mayday call was attempted, air traffic controllers received no communication before the aircraft went down.

One day before the crash, a passenger on the same aircraft—then operating as an inbound flight to India—posted a video showing several technical issues onboard, including malfunctioning lights, broken TV screens, and faulty air conditioning. It remains unclear whether those issues were connected to the fatal crash.

This marks the first fatal crash involving a Boeing 787 Dreamliner since the model’s debut 14 years ago. Air India has confirmed the disaster and opened a support hotline for the victims’ families.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer have both expressed condolences. All flights out of Ahmedabad have been grounded as emergency crews continue search and recovery operations at the crash site.