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Air India Plane Crashes in Western India with 242 People on Board; Air India Jet Hit a Doctor's Hostel When It Crashed. Aired 8- 8:30a ET

Aired June 12, 2025 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[08:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: India plane that crashed less than a minute after taking off from an airport in western India. The plane had just left the Ahmedabad airport heading to London Gatwick, 242 passengers and crew on board. A senior police official confirms the plane slammed into what they're calling a doctor's hostel when it crashed, which we think is is probably a living center for medical professionals near a hospital.

New footage shows part of the tail of the plane sticking out of the building. You can see it right there. We learned or we're told this is the first major incident involving a 787 Dreamliner.

Again, that is the type of plane that did crash. Remarkable and tragic images from the scene. We did see video of the plane itself crashing, creating a huge fireball.

Let's get right to CNN's Salma Abdelaziz, who is in London with the very latest on what is now a clean-up and an investigation.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, and when you look at those images, you're beginning to build a timeline of what has happened from that moment that you see the crash on social media video that's been verified by CNN, where you see this slow descend of a plane. This only took moments, of course, though, and then a fireball explosion. You're looking right now at the wreckage, at the aftermath, where you can see that debris, where you can see the smoke rising, where you can see rescue workers trying to put out.

And again, we're playing that video. It is absolutely extraordinary and shocking and terrifying to watch that plane, which should have been taking off instead just a moment after its departure, becoming this huge fireball explosion.

242 souls on board. Nearly 170 of them, just over 160, are Indian nationals. You have more than 50 British nationals. You have Portuguese and Canadian nationals as well. So you're already looking at a global effort there.

This plane was supposed to land here in London at 6:30, around 6:30 local time, at Gatwick Airport. So you're also looking at families potentially here in London that are seeking answers. And there's a multi-layered approach that's taking place right now to address the needs of those families. There's been an emergency help desk that's been set up by the airliner, by Air India. There are support services that India's Civil Aviation Minister says he is providing to those emergency workers that you see on the ground there.

But, of course, for everyone, for every one of those family members right now, the key question is did my loved one make it out alive? And when you're looking at those pictures, it's difficult to come to any other conclusion.

And you have to remember the human toll here. I mean, I saw images of luggage being pulled out of the wreckage of this plane, families potentially on that flight that were coming home to see loved ones here in London, only to be met with this fate just seconds, just mere moments after takeoff.

One thing that also stopped me in my tracks was that a May Day call was made by the pilot, even in that short span of time we talked about from that departure. Quickly, things must have turned very, very wrong for that May Day call to be made.

As you mentioned, recovery efforts right now underway on the ground, not only to pull whatever scraps they can from that plane, including, of course, the black box, but also to answer the question for those families, did my loved one make it? Are they OK?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Salma, thank you so much. And we are getting some reporting. We're going to bring in CNN's David Soucie and as well as CNN transportation analyst Mary Schiavo again.

And we are getting some information to what Salma was just saying is the question on so many people's minds and families is a city police commissioner has told the Associated Press that there appears to be no survivors from the crashed plane that is just coming in right now. And as we've been as we've been told by the airline, 242 passengers and crew were on that flight.

And now, Mary, now we get the news from the police commissioner there telling the Associated Press press they do not believe there are any survivors.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: Yes, sad and heartbreaking news. But, you know, and David, as well as I, we've worked many, many accidents. And the difference between life and death is usually that fireball.

If you have a crash and the fire doesn't start until after you've started the evacuation or you have no fire, then, you know, miraculously, many, many people survive. And that makes the difference in so many cases.

[08:05:00]

But here with that much fuel on board and with that sinking crash sequence that we just saw on the video a few minutes ago, that fireball and that kind of a crash, there's just into a city. There's just -- it makes the survivability factors pretty non-existent.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, all right, David, you know, when you look at this, Mary's been talking about this video and we're seeing it now really disturbing watching this plane sort of coast in and then lift up just a tiny bit, the nose lifting up just a tiny bit. And then you see this this blast.

What are your thoughts on what you see may have happened here?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: So tragic to watch, isn't it? But what you can see in this is that after takeoff, typically the nose will come up and you'll see the aircraft rise. In this case, the nose comes up, but you can see that the wings are pulling up very hard. You can see they actually arc up. And at that point, the aircraft doesn't appear to have enough air speed. And then it starts to fall.

And that's called a slow stall. But it's starting to stall over the wing. The lift is gone. And you can see at that point, the aircraft doesn't have enough speed or altitude to maintain flight. And you can see just sinks, as Mary said, it sinks. It's not an abrupt drop from the front of the nose.

A stall typically buffets and then drops down directly. And in that case, as Mary said, with that fireball following there, there is no survivability at that point.

BERMAN: David, there was a Mayday call in this. We're not talking about a long period of time between liftoff and when it ultimately crashed. These pictures of the crash scene are just devastating right now.

But the fact that there was a Mayday call, what does that tell you? The pilots clearly knew something was wrong.

SOUCIE: Yes, it tells you that they knew that they didn't have the air speed or they didn't have the ability to continue. And to call Mayday at that point is just saying, look, we're going down. We need some assistance.

And there's really nothing the pilot could have done at the point he called Mayday. He was already apparently in that stall and there's no recovery from that at that altitude. That's what they call the safe zone.

Once you have enough altitude and air speed, you can then glide and have control over where you land. But at the point that you've lost that control, that's when you would call the Mayday.

BOLDUAN: Look, you can see in this video there's still from this morning, still trying to put out flames inside this building, which we've been told is some doctor's hostel in the city, a housing, like a housing for medical students and medical professionals in that city.

Mary, one thing we do -- we do know is that -- just look at that. Look at that smoke, Mary.

One thing we do know is this was a 787 Dreamliner. What do you know about the Dreamliner? What is the safety record?

SCHIAVO: Well, in terms of haul losses or total air disasters, this will be the first. Now, when the Dreamliner first came out, they had problems with the Dreamliner batteries. There were runaway battery overheating fires. They were difficult to put out.

But that was many years ago in Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration. And, you know, there were battery guidance put out around the world after that. But they worked on that. And that problem has not resurfaced in recent years. And so that were the glitches when it was new.

And it's kind of typical for a brand new model airplane. For the first year or two, you really do have to work out a few kinks. They did. There were no loss of life because of these runaway battery fires on the Dreamliner. And after that, it's had a good service.

But Boeing will be under extra scrutiny because of the 737 MAX 8 crashes in Indonesia and in Kenya because, in Addis Ababa, because of the issue with the computer program called MCAS.

Now, this is a different plane. It doesn't have quite the same system. But Boeing will be under tremendous scrutiny to show that those kinds of problems could not have possibly been replicated on this plane.

You know, whether or not it's entirely different or not, that will be looked at. I mean, it's just a fact that Boeing is going to have to face. They're going to have to prove that there was no possibility that kind of system programming, a computer glitch could have occurred again, even though it's an entirely different plane.

SIDNER: Mary Schiavo, David Soucie and Salma Abdelaziz, thank you so much. We're going to have a lot more on this. You can see that it is an active scene at this hour.

There is also a great deal of concern about those on the ground, this plane smashing into buildings, one of which, according to officials in India, was a hostel that housed internist or doctors where they would both train and where they would also live.

[08:10:00]

So there is a lot of concern about the survivability for people on the ground as well.

We will also be live from Gatwick Airport. We know that there are several dozen members of the British community, who were also on that plane, including Canada as well. More of our breaking news is coming up.

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SIDNER: All right, breaking news. Again, you're seeing this horrific pictures from the crash of a commercial airliner, Air India airliner.

[08:15:00] And now we are learning from local police, the police commissioner telling the AP, there appears to be no survivors from the Air India crash, 242 people were on board that flight to London Gatwick.

Our Nada Bashir is at Gatwick Airport in London. Can you give us some sense of what you're seeing, hearing there as families were, certainly, you know, it's a fairly long flight, but families will be gathering to try to learn more.

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. That flight was due to land here at Gatwick Airport just outside of London at around 6:30 p.m. local time today, and as we understand, according to airline officials, at least 53 of the 242 passengers and crew that were on board that flight are believed to be British nationals. So this will be a moment of anguish for many of the relatives and loved ones of those who were on board that flight, either traveling back home or perhaps here on holiday.

And, of course, there are many questions still for those relatives and loved ones. We've been hearing from the authorities here at Gatwick Airport who have said that they are setting up a reception center here at the airport for relatives and loved ones, where they will be provided with updates, information and support as and when the airport receives that information. But, of course, this is also an issue that the government is closely following.

We've heard from the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer. He has said that he has been devastated by the news and is being kept updated throughout the day on the information coming from officials in India.

We've also been hearing from the foreign secretary, David Lammy, who told the House of Commons just a short while ago that they know that British nationals were on board, that they are working urgently with authorities both here in the United Kingdom and in India to get those updates and that they have set up a crisis team both in Delhi and here in London.

So, clearly, there is still a lot of information that authorities and officials are waiting to get. As we understand it, that flight crashed in India shortly after takeoff, after making a Mayday call. And, of course, this was, as you mentioned, a long flight, not expected to land here until 6:30 p.m.

So, as you can imagine, family members and loved ones will be waiting to get those updates. They have offered a hotline now for relatives as well to get those updates from officials. And, as you can see, members of the press have gathered here. We have yet to see any family members just yet arriving, but this is a very controlled situation by the airport -- Sara.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely, Nada there at London Gatwick, which was the destination of this flight, this tragic flight. Nada, we're going to keep getting -- we're going to get back to you as well.

Let's go now, joining us from New Delhi is Zakka Jacob, the managing editor for CNN News 18. Zakka, thanks for joining us. What are you hearing from government officials there right now about this horrible tragedy?

ZAKKA JACOB, CNN NEWS 18 MANAGING EDITOR: So, you mentioned a moment ago about the commissioner of police in Ahmedabad, one of the senior cops there, saying that he doesn't expect anyone to survive in this crash. There were 242 people on board, including 10 crew members. There were more than 50 British nationals, more than 160 Indian nationals.

The worry is it's not just the people on board who may have lost their lives to this terrible tragedy. The hospital authorities there, the civil hospital, which is the main hospital to which much of the bodies are being rushed to, have now confirmed that over 200 bodies have been brought there and are undergoing post-mortem. The fear is also that the building that this plane crashed into was the lunch building of a medical school.

This was a little past 1:30 in the afternoon, so it was peak lunch hour. There were a number of these medical students, medical school students, who were having their lunch in that building at that time. So I'm afraid there's a large number of casualties on the ground as well, aside of the number of people who died who were on board that ill-fated flight, Air India Flight 171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick.

What is also of concern is that this is the first time in the last over a decade that the Dreamliner 787 has been in the skies. This is the very first time that a flight of this nature has crashed, and it happened within minutes of takeoff. It took off at 1:38 local time is what we're given to understand. And within the first five minutes, the pilot lost contact with the air traffic control. And within 20 minutes before 2 o'clock, the crash happened over this medical school building in the outskirts of Ahmedabad.

Also we're given to understand that the prime minister has tweeted about this. He has expressed his pain and anguish. He has also instructed his number two in the government, the Union Home Minister, Mr. Amit Shah, who also hails, in fact, both the prime minister and the home minister hail from the state of Gujarat. That's where this air crash happened.

[08:20:00]

So he has instructed the Home Minister to rush to Ahmedabad immediately. He should be reaching Ahmedabad within the next hour to take stock of the situation there. The chief minister of the province of Gujarat has already reached the hospital.

The Chief Minister of the province of Gujarat has already reached the hospital. He's taking stock of the fatalities and also trying to get the information across to the loved ones of those who perished in this terrible, terrible air tragedy.

There will be an inquiry. So far we've not heard from the airline authorities as to whether they've recovered any of the debris or the black box or any of the voice recording systems on board to try and gauge what exactly led to this. The pilot, Sumeet Sabharwal, apparently had more than 8,000 hours of flying experience. The co-pilot had over 1,000 hours. So we don't know what led to this terrible crash.

Was it a pilot error? Was it an engine failure? Was there a bird hit of any kind?

What is very curious about this incident, this tragedy, is that both the engines failed of an airline, the type of airline which has never crashed before in the decade-plus that it's been in the skies. So all of these will be questions that investigators will be asking in the next few days and weeks.

BERMAN: Zakka Jacob, a lot of information. We are very appreciative of you sharing your reporting. We may check back in with you in a little bit because you raise a great point, which is that those of us who have been looking at this video of what happened on the ground, everyone has to be fearful of casualties, injuries, deaths in the buildings in that neighborhood, in what's called a doctor's hostel, in that facility near a medical center where medical professionals gather and eat and live.

Almost certainly injuries and deaths there based on the pictures we're seeing, but just no official word yet on the ground there.

Boeing did just issue a statement on social media saying, Our thoughts are with the passengers, crew, first responders, and all affected. They say they stand by Air India and they are ready to support them.

Much more on this ahead, obviously. Our breaking news coverage continues of this crash. And the police commissioner, again, I should reiterate, in Ahmedabad, says they do not believe there were any survivors, 242 people on board that plane.

Stay with us.

[08:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: (INAUDIBLE)

Today, a federal judge is going to hold a hearing over California's lawsuit challenging the president's deployment of National Guard troops in Los Angeles despite their objections. And this morning, CNN has new reporting coming in that the Trump administration's plans to use the military to bolster their immigration enforcement efforts is -- it was months in the making.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez broke the story, has much more of this detail, joining us now. Priscilla, please tell us what you are learning.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK, the Trump administration has said its deployment of National Guard in Los Angeles is to protect federal buildings and to protect agents. But one of the remarkable images that came out of Los Angeles this

week was one posted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement where you could see -- you see the image there. Authorities detaining an individual and National Guard around them.

I had been talking to sources at the time that image broke and they said that they had never seen anything like it. But there were discussions behind the scenes and there have been discussions within the administration as to how to use National Guard as a force multiplier, not to arrest undocumented immigrants, but to serve as a security perimeter to be around ICE operations as they happen.

And I spoke to White House Borders czar, Tom Homan, about this. And he told me, quote, It's certainly an expansion, but it's a needed expansion.

As I was asking him about the augmenting of this, he said, We're trying to use all available resources. That's why we're bringing all these other different agencies ...

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