Air India flight headed to London with more than 240 aboard crashes after takeoff

By Ajit Solanki and Rajesh Roy

An Air India passenger plane bound for London with more than 240 people on board crashed and exploded after takeoff Thursday in India’s northwestern city of Ahmedabad, and there were no known survivors, officials said.

Black smoke billowed from the site where the plane crashed into a medical college hostel and burst into flames near the airport in Ahmedabad, a city of more than 5 million and the capital of Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state.

Firefighters doused the smoking wreckage of the plane, which would have been fully loaded with fuel shortly after takeoff, and adjacent multistory buildings with water. Charred bodies lay on the ground and parts of the fuselage were scattered around the site. Indian army teams were assisting civil authorities to clear debris and help treat the injured.

A video on social media showed the jet slowly descending as if it were landing. As soon