Air India Flight 171
The aircraft's tail section wedged into a college building, inspected by Prime Minister Narendra Modi | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 12 June 2025 |
| Summary | Crashed shortly after takeoff; fuel cutoff causing both engines to shut down; under investigation |
| Site | |
| Total fatalities | 260 |
| Total injuries | 68 |
| Aircraft | |
| VT-ANB, the aircraft involved in the accident, seen in 2024 | |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner |
| Operator | Air India |
| IATA flight No. | AI171 |
| ICAO flight No. | AIC171 |
| Call sign | AIRINDIA 171 |
| Registration | VT-ANB |
| Flight origin | Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad, India |
| Destination | London Gatwick Airport, Crawley, United Kingdom |
| Occupants | 242 |
| Passengers | 230 |
| Crew | 12 |
| Fatalities | 241 |
| Injuries | 1 |
| Survivors | 1 |
| Ground casualties | |
| Ground fatalities | 19 |
| Ground injuries | 67 |
Air India Flight 171 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad, India, to London Gatwick Airport in the United Kingdom. On 12 June 2025, at 13:39 IST (08:09 UTC), the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner operating the flight, crashed just 32 seconds after takeoff into the hostel block of B. J. Medical College in Ahmedabad, 1.7 kilometres (1 mi; 0.9 nmi) from the runway. Of the 12 crew members and 230 passengers on board, only 1 passenger survived. On the ground, 19 people were killed, and 67 others were seriously injured.
The aircraft was destroyed, and several college buildings were severely damaged by the impact and subsequent fire. This was the first fatal accident and hull loss involving a Boeing 787 since the type entered service in 2011, as well as the deadliest aviation incident in the 2020s, surpassing Jeju Air Flight 2216. It is the second deadliest incident in the history of Air India after the bombing of Air India Flight 182 in 1985, and also in the history of civil aviation in India after the 1996 Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision.
According to a preliminary report released on 12 July 2025 by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), the aircraft's front enhanced airborne flight recorder revealed that the crash was caused by the loss of thrust in both engines after their fuel control switches were moved from RUN to CUTOFF three seconds after liftoff. According to Corriere della Sera, investigators concluded that the Captain Sumeet Sabharwal likely intentionally moved the switches to cut off the fuel. The crash remains under investigation and the final report on the accident has not yet been released.