Air India flight bound for London with 242 aboard crashes in northwestern India
CBC
The Latest:
An Air India passenger plane bound for London carrying more than 240 people crashed Thursday in India's northwestern city of Ahmedabad, the airline said.
Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, the director general of the directorate of civil aviation, told The Associated Press that Air India flight AI 171, a Boeing 787-8, crashed into Meghani Nagar, a residential area in the city of five million. Kidwai said the crash took place five minutes after taking off at 1:38 p.m. local time.
Ahmedabad's city police commissioner was pessimistic about the prospect of crash survivors in comments made to The Associated Press.
"It appears there are no survivors in the plane crash," commissioner G.S. Malik said, adding that with the plane crashing in a residential area with offices, "some locals would have also died."
"Exact figures on casualties are being ascertained," he said.
Firefighters doused the smoking wreckage of the plane, which would have been fully loaded with fuel shortly after takeoff, and surrounding multi-storey buildings with water. Charred bodies lay on the ground.
Part of the plane fell on top of the dining area of B.J. Medical College, killing at least five medical students and injuring nearly 50. That's according to Divyansh Singh, vice-president of the Federation of All India Medical Association, a national body that represents resident doctors across the country.
"Some of the injured are critical. We are in close contact with our peers in the hospital who are on a lookout for more people feared buried in the debris," said Singh.
The flight was bound for London's Gatwick, the U.K. airport confirmed.
Air India in a social media post said that in addition to 169 Indian nationals, there were 53 British citizens, seven on board from Portugal and one Canadian citizen. The airline said the flight was carrying 242 passengers and crew overall, amending an earlier reported total.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was in contact with all of India's ministers charged with responding to the crash.
"The tragedy in Ahmedabad has stunned and saddened us," said Modi. "It is heartbreaking beyond words. In this sad hour, my thoughts are with everyone affected by it."
Prime Minister Mark Carney and Foreign Minister Anita Anand acknowledged the death of one Canadian in separate statements, with both indicating the federal government was in contact with counterparts in India.
For years, there has been “glaring inequity” in the way the province has allocated the millions of dollars in its county roads budget, according to Department of Transportation Minister Chuck Chiasson.
Six months after passing a law aimed at making it easier for new grocery stores to open, Manitoba's premier says lower grocery bills could be on the horizon.
Timothy Smith was acting in self-defence when he punched Landon Waddell, and shouldn't be found guilty of manslaughter, his lawyer says.
Thoroughbred horse racing at Vancouver’s Hastings Racecourse is ending after more than a century, with the operator announcing Friday it will no longer run a racing season at the historic facility.
A memorial to remember lives lost to gender-based violence was held in Charlottetown Friday, ahead of the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, which is marked annually on Dec. 6.
A Calgary dentist who defrauded five insurance companies over a decade should spend up to three years in prison, the prosecution argued Friday.
B.C. Conservation Officer Service says it has called off its search for a bear responsible for an attack on a group of school children in Bella Coola, B.C. on Nov. 20.
The union president called it a rally for solidarity as Iqaluit Housing Authority employees gathered Friday while negotiations are ongoing between the Nunavut Employees Union and the employer.
The federal government is stoking Quebec separatism by walking back its climate commitments — including in its recent deal with Alberta — Liberal MP and former cabinet minister Steven Guilbeault says.
Four more Alberta MLAs are facing recall petitions organized by their constituents, including the first NDP representative to be caught in the province's ongoing wave of recall efforts.
Frank Gehry, the Canadian-born renegade architect behind some of the world's most recognizable buildings, has died at 96.
Hundreds of P.E.I. parents can't find child-care spaces, especially for infants. The provincial government says expanding those spots remains a top priority — and it recognizes the concern.
An Alberta judge says a referendum proposal on Alberta separating from Canada goes against Charter and and Treaty rights, in a decision given less than 24 hours after the provincial government introduced legislation that would have ended the court proceeding.