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Who were Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and Clive Kundar, pilots of flight that crashed
The flight – AI171 – was heading to London's Gatwick from Ahmedabad and was carrying 242 passengers and crew members on board.
An Air India aircraft with 242 passengers onboard crashed near the Meghaninagar area in Gujarat's Ahmedabad airport on Thursday afternoon. More than 100 people are feared dead.
Air India said that the flight – AI171 – was heading to London's Gatwick from Ahmedabad and was carrying 242 passengers and crew members on board the Boeing 787-8 aircraft. Follow LIVE updates.
The aircraft departed from Ahmedabad airport at 1:39pm from runway 23 and moments later, gave a MAYDAY call to the air traffic controllers, as reported by Hindustan Times.
Who were the two pilots?
According to officials, the aircraft was under the command of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal with First Officer Clive Kundar.
Captain Sumeet Sabharwal had 8,200 hours of flying experience. The co-pilot had 1,100 hours of flying experience.
What Air India said about the plane crash?
Air India said that of the total passengers onboard, 169 were Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, 1 Canadian national and 7 Portuguese nationals. Two pilots and ten cabin crew members were onboard.
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“Air India confirms that flight AI171, from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, was involved in an accident today after take-off,” the airlines wrote in a post on X.
“The flight, which departed from Ahmedabad at 1338 hrs, was carrying 242 passengers and crew members on board the Boeing 787-8 aircraft. Of these, 169 are Indian nationals, 53 are British nationals, 1 Canadian national and 7 Portuguese nationals,” it added.
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“The injured are being taken to the nearest hospitals. We have also set up a dedicated passenger hotline number 1800 5691 444 to provide more information.”
