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242 Passengers and Crew on Air India Flight That Crashed in Ahmedabad; Police Say, Appear to Be No Survivors in Air India Crash; U.S. to Move Non-Essential Personnel Out of the Middle East. Aired 10- 10:30a ET

Aired June 12, 2025 - 10:00   ET

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

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, shock and horror. An Air India flight to London with 242 people on board crashes only moments after takeoff. Emergency crews are on the scene right now. What we're learning.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Pamela Brown has the morning off. And you're in The Situation Room.

And we begin this hour with that breaking news out of India, horrible breaking news. A commercial airliner once again with 242 people on board, passengers and crew members crashes just after takeoff. Here you see the thick black smoke billowing into the sky. Police now tell the Associated Press there are no survivors. It's not known about deaths or injuries on the ground.

The flight had just taken off from India's western city of Ahmedabad and was bound for London's Gatwick Airport. The plane's signal was lost less than a minute later at an altitude of just 625 feet.

We want to warn our viewers that this video is distressing. It shows the plane losing altitude and falling from the sky. It then crashes and ignites a huge fireball in a residential area. The explosion so powerful, it catapulted the plane's tail into a nearby building.

The plane was an American-made Boeing 787 Dreamliner. So, NTSB investigators from here in the United States are heading to the crash site to help determine what went so horribly wrong.

CNN Correspondent Salma Abdelaziz is in London and our Nada Bashir is over at London's Gatwick airport. That's where the plane was on route to.

Salma, first to you. You have been following this crash from the first moments of this tragedy. Tell our viewers what you're learning.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think the first thing to emphasize is, of course, those 242 souls on board, the passenger and crew, and now word from the local police commissioner that there are likely no survivors. That is absolutely heartbreaking for families to hear from here in London all the way to India, where this flight, which was supposed to be departing at around 1:40 local time.

And you've played that video, that very dramatic video that shows a plane that should be taking off instead nose diving and exploding in mere moments. And despite the fact that this was such a short incident, Wolf, pilots were able to make a mayday call.

The plane crashing into a residential area causing huge plumes of smoke, burning out buildings, scorching the earth, and, according to the local police commissioner, causing more victims, more casualties on the ground.

You saw that portion of the plane lodged in a building, that building is where medical students, local medical students often have their lunch exactly when this happened. You're also looking at images of people pulling pieces of luggage out of the debris. That shows you just how important every scrap from one of these victims is going to be for their families.

You are looking right now at a multi-layered global response to what is going to potentially be one of the worst aviation disasters in history. India's prime minister has put out his condolences. He has expressed heartfelt sadness at this tragedy and sent his top in command on the ground to deal with the situation.

We've also heard from Air India, which has set up an emergency services site for family members to essentially have a hot desk to speak to. We've heard from Boeing Airliner as well saying that they're going to look into what's happened here.

But for those families, the families of the 242 missing souls, who can now almost minute-by-minute, Wolf, see this play out from that social media video of the plane crash to the fiery aftermath, to the emergency crews pulling that luggage out of the rubble. They can see this happen in real time. Their fears, their concerns, their worries are going to be on their loved ones and finding out what was their fate, what went wrong, Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. I want to go to Nada right now. Nada, this flight was bound for Gatwick Airport near London, as you know.

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What are you hearing this morning at Gatwick? That's where you are.

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. The flight was expected to land at Gatwick Airport at around 6:25 P.M. local time. And as you can imagine, this is a huge moment of anguish. There's family members, relatives, and loved ones of those who were on board hoping to meet with their loved ones later this evening.

Of course, as you heard there from Salma, 242, passengers and crew members were on board that flight, among them, 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, 7 Portuguese nationals, and 1 Canadian national. Of course, given a significant number of British nationals on board that flight, this has proven to be a huge point of concern and focus today for the British government.

We've heard from the prime minister, Kier Starmer, who has said that he is devastated by the news and also getting updates around the clock from officials in India, here in the United Kingdom with regards to that unfolding investigation and the fate of those British nationals on board.

And we've been hearing from the foreign secretary as well, David Lammy, speaking earlier today in the House of Commons and addressing lawmakers, according to the foreign office. They have now stood up at crisis teams in with Delhi and London to provide support. And we've been hearing from Canadian officials as well, the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, expressing his condolences and saying that they are ready to provide support, they are in contact with officials in India as well.

So, as Salma was mentioning, this is a multinational investigative effort now. But the anguish of family members, of course, will be palpable here at Gatwick Airport. And we've been hearing from authorities saying they have set up a reception center as well as a hotline. So, this will be a point for relatives and family members to not only receive updates, but, of course, receive support as well as they continue to learn more about the fate of their loved ones. Wolf?

BLITZER: So sad. Nada Bashir and Salma Abdelaziz, we'll stay in very close touch with both of you. I know you're working your sources. Thanks very much.

I want to turn right now to CNN Aviation Analyst Miles O'Brien. Miles, a mayday call was made and the plane signal was lost, what, less than a minute after takeoff at only 625 feet in altitude. What does that tell you about the crash?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Wolf. This was an aircraft that was struggling to maintain flight. If you look at the video very carefully, it's in a very unusual configuration, actually the wrong configuration. It does not appear that the trailing edge flaps, which are designed to be deployed. These are the aerodynamic surfaces that move at the trailing edge of the wing and provide additional lift during takeoff when the speeds are lower. It does not appear those flaps were deployed based on the video images that we've seen so far.

And on top of that, the landing gear remained down. At this stage of the flight, you would expect the landing gear to be up after a positive rate of ascent had been determined by the flight crew. Couple that with the fact Wolf, that you had a very hot day, which means there's less lift on the wings because the air molecules are less dense, and a fully loaded flight ready for a nine-hour flight to London, and you have what amounts to an aircraft just struggling to maintain lift and air speed. And it's just a real open question as to how it was in that configuration.

BLITZER: It is pretty unusual for a plane to crash like this within a minute after takeoff from a major airport and crash at around -- within a minute of takeoff. Isn't that pretty unusual, especially for a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a very, very important plane? O'BRIEN: Yes, Wolf. This is a highly automated aircraft. It's only been in service a little more than a decade. This is the first crash, hull loss with fatalities. They had some early problems with the batteries on board, which caused them to be grounded. There have been more recent concerns about how it is assembled the seams on the composite fuselage, but that doesn't seem to be coming into play here today.

This is a highly automated aircraft, which is designed to check and crosscheck the configuration of the aircraft before takeoff. So, if it was in fact flying in the wrong configuration, there would have been all kinds of systems on board, oral and visual, to notify the crew of that fact. So, this is a really kind of a mystery as to why the aircraft was in that configuration. But without those flaps deployed at that stage of flight, the aircraft never had a chance to gain altitude.

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It just simply would have lost lift installed, which is what we saw.

BLITZER: Are there any other clues from the video, Miles, showing the crash? Are you seeing any indication at all that the plane was in trouble?

O'BRIEN: Yes. Well, clearly, as it sunk down, it was quite obvious. You know, Wolf, the crew obviously knew it had trouble. It declared the mayday in that short period of time. That, you know, is the shorthand to declare an emergency. You have to wonder why it was in that configuration. Was there a mistake on board? Perhaps instead of stowing the landing gear, the wrong lever was pulled and the flaps were stowed instead.

Mistakes like this have happened and, you know, this is not an unprecedented type of crash. Well, it's unique for the 787, the first crash of this aircraft type. There was a crash in Detroit in the 1980s of a Northwest Airlines aircraft where the flaps and slats had not been deployed, and it too crashed shortly after takeoff then. At that time, it was determined that the crew had pulled a circuit breaker to defeat an oral warning, and as a result, was unaware that the aircraft was in the wrong configuration.

This aircraft has so many, you know, systems and counter systems and crosschecks and redundancies. It's hard to imagine it being in that configuration without it offering up all kinds of warnings to the crew.

BLITZER: Miles, walk us through the next steps of this investigation.

O'BRIEN: Well, as you've seen from the footage, this dramatic footage of the tail section of the aircraft sticking out of that building, that is the location of the so-called black boxes, the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. This sort of aircraft, as advanced as it is, is feeding thousands of streams of data into, you know, a computer chip flight data recorder. So, the amount of data that will be there of every parameter of this aircraft would be available. It's highly likely that will be relatively easy to recover.

And, additionally, Wolf, you know, the cockpit voice recorder, which will capture the conversations to the crew from the moment they powered on the aircraft at the gate until its fiery conclusion, that will obviously be very telling to give investigators some indication as to what it knew about the configuration of the airplane, when, and whether warning systems were operating properly to notify them, or if there was a simple error on deploying, you know, stowing flaps instead of raising the landing gear. Things like that have happened. And this will be where the investigators will begin their chore. The key is not to put blinders on. They have to look at all the possibilities.

BLITZER: And very quickly about the investigation, Miles, we know that officials from the NTSB, the National Transportation Safety Board here in the United States, are on their way to India right now to investigate. Who will be in charge of this investigation?

O'BRIEN: Well, by treaty, the India is in charge. This is their flag carrier on their soil. But these investigations, Wolf, as you well know, are kind of collegial affairs involving all the parties. And so Boeing would send a representative as the maker of the airliner. The makers of the engines will be there as part of this as well. And then the National Transportation Safety Board is there to offer advisory and assistance to the Indian investigators.

It's up to them to lean into the NTSB as much as they like, but the NTSB has tremendous expertise, depth and experience recovering data from damaged flight data recorders, for example. So, they might be called upon for that.

BLITZER: And our hearts go out, of course, to the family members of those who were inside that airplane.

Miles O'Brien, thank you very, very much.

Still ahead, protestors detained in Los Angeles after breaking curfew, as anti-immigration raid protests are spreading outside of California.

And next, growing tensions in the Middle East as well, the U.S. State Department is issuing serious warnings for U.S. government officials and their family members to leave the region right away. What's behind this dramatic move?

Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

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BLITZER: We're following the breaking news this morning out of India, an Air India passenger jet carrying more than 200 people crashed in the Western Indian city of Ahmedabad. Dramatic footage of the crash shared to social media shows massive flames and black smoke billowing into the air as the plane crashed down shortly after takeoff, within a minute after takeoff. It's unclear the number of casualties, but a local official tells the Associated Press there appears to be no survivors who were on board that plane, 242 people on board that plane. CNN is working to independently confirm that report.

Also happening now, there's growing tension in the Middle East. The Pentagon and the State Department are now arranging the departure of what are described as non-essential personnel from locations around the Middle East region, and that includes diplomats and military families.

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It comes amid escalating tensions between Israel and Iran and President Trump seemingly less confident about securing a nuclear deal with Tehran.

We're covering all the angles of this unfolding very important story. CNN National Security Correspondent Kylie Atwood is here with me in The Situation Room and Jerusalem Bureau Chief Oren Liebermann is in the region for us.

Kylie, let me start with you. What is the specific threat that's driving all of this?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Right now? US officials are citing heightened security concerns in the region. They're not talking about one specific threat. But as you said, we know that this comes amid tension between Israel and Iran. CENTCOM said yesterday that they're monitoring, developing tensions in the Middle East, and President Trump said yesterday that the Middle East could become a dangerous place. That is why the U.S. is moving on both fronts when it comes to the Pentagon, allowing military families to leave the region, and also at the State Department, drawing down non- essential personnel.

The specific places for US embassies that'll be impacted here. We heard overnight that the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem is going to be restricting the travel of U.S diplomats and their families in the country when it comes to the U.S. military -- excuse me, diplomatic presence in Iraq. Both of those facilities are going to be drawing down non-essential personnel, and we also expect there to be movement when it comes to the diplomatic posts in Bahrain and Kuwait.

You have to understand that it is hugely significant that the Trump administration is trying to really reach an Iran nuclear deal right now. They have had five rounds of talks with Iran going into their sixth round this weekend, and we're told that that is still expected to happen. As of now, we'll have to watch and see what happens in the next 48 hours here before that happens.

But also, Wolf, overnight. Iran said that it is going to be launching a new nuclear enrichment center. That comes after the IAEA, said that they were not in compliance with their nuclear non-proliferation commitments. So, that is a space for us to watch, a lot of moving places, a lot of moving pieces to this whole puzzle right now. BLITZER: And there's deep concern in the U.S. government potentially about a confrontation between Israel and Iran over Iran's nuclear program, right?

ATWOOD: Exactly. In recent weeks, U.S officials were watching as Israel was making preparations to potentially carry out a strike against Iran's nuclear program. So, that is the major concern that has been on the minds of U.S. officials for quite some time now and clearly increasingly so.

BLITZER: And the Iranians have publicly threatened to go and attack U.S. targets in the region if that were to happen.

ATWOOD: That's right. They said just this week that if there were confrontation, if there were a war that were to break out between Israel and Iran, the U.S. would have to leave the region, that they would go after U.S. targets in the Middle East.

BLITZER: All right. Kylie, thank you very much.

I want to go to Oren Liebermann right now who's watching all of this in Israel. Oren, tell us more about the escalating tensions right now between Israel and Iran and how the U.S. potentially could be drawn into all of this.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Wolf Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made very clear his, at least his threats, perhaps not his intentions, but his threats that he wants to put on the table, and that is a credible threat of a military strike on Iran. We have already seen over the course of the past months and year-and- a-half or so that Israel has carried out a strike on Iran.

But this is a much different ballgame here. This would be a strike potentially on Iran's nuclear facilities, and that is where Iran has threatened a much more punishing, much more severe response, not only against Israel, but also against the U.S. And that is behind the moves we're seeing in the region, that's behind the increasing tension in the region and potentially the moves we're seeing of the U.S. pulling non-essential personnel out of the region.

It's gotten to the point, at least the very public rhetoric and the very open threats coming from Israel and specifically coming from Netanyahu that in a conversation between Netanyahu and President Donald Trump earlier this year, Trump basically told Netanyahu, hey, back off the threats, back off this escalating rhetoric. It's not helping Trump and the U.S. pursuit of a nuclear deal with Iran. As Kylie pointed out, that sixth round negotiations expected to begin with Tehran in the region coming Sunday.

But Netanyahu made clear how he sees this. He thinks Iran is just buying time. They're not really interested in a deal, and that's the message he tried to convey to Trump.

BLITZER: Oren, very quickly, you're in Jerusalem, that's where the U.S. embassy is now. Have you seen evidence that U.S. diplomats and embassy personnel and their families are either staying within the embassy compound, not leaving that area, or actually beginning to head over towards Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv to get out of the country?

LIEBERMANN: We haven't seen an order mandating an evacuation of non- essential personnel like we've seen in other parts of the region, but we are seeing essentially what is the beginnings of a lockdown, telling them, stay in Jerusalem, stay in Tel Aviv, stay in Be'er Sheva, a major city in the south.

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So, that, in and of itself, is a significant sign of how the U.S. sees the region.

BLITZER: All right. Oren Liebermann in Jerusalem for us, Kylie Atwood with me here in The Situation Room, thanks to both of you.

I want to continue this important conversation, regional threats developing in the Middle East, CNN Global Affairs Analyst Brett McGurk is here with me in The Situation Room. He is a former White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa under President Biden.

Brett, this departure of non-essential personnel would include some diplomats and military families, as you know. It's worth noting that as of last August, there were approximately 40,000 U.S. military troops in the Central Command region, which is the Middle East, 40,000 U.S. troops in the region. How significant, potentially is this latest move?

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I think it's very serious Wolf, but I think, let me kind of back up. Why now? What's happening? I think Kylie mentioned this vote in the IAEA today in Vienna, 19 countries found Iran in non-compliance with its IAEA obligations. That's huge --

BLITZER: The International Atomic Energy Commission.

MCGURK: That's hugely significant, has not happened in 20 years. This comes after a report from the IAEA last week finding Iran an egregious failure to basically hold up its obligations to convince the world that it has a peaceful program.

Another thing, Wolf, this is coming to a head. I don't think it's imminent, but it's coming to a head, because the Obama era JCPOA, there's a provision of that deal that even the critics really like called Snapback. Any member of that deal can snapback all international sanctions, the Brits and the French are prepared to do that this summer, that power expires in October. So, this issue of the Iran nuclear program has to be resolved in that timeframe. That's why there's so much tension here.

And Israel's watching this very closely because Iran is trying to not only dramatically expand its program, it is stockpiling uranium enriched to 60 percent grade. No civilian need for that. It is enough for ten bombs now. And it can quickly spin that with very advanced centrifuges to weapons grade. And Iran announced today they're putting these advanced centrifuges in the underground enrichment facility in Fordo, very provocative step.

So, the Israelis are watching and saying, we cannot, for our national security, particularly after October 7th, we cannot just sit and wait. We have to have this issue resolved. The Witkoff talks in Oman on Sunday, I think, will be very important to try to reduce some of the tension.

BLITZER: Steve Witkoff, the special envoy.

MCGURK: Steve, yes. And I've dealt with this issue. I've negotiated with the Iranians in Oman. I know what this is like. I actually would like the position Steve is in. You now have a real threat of military force. You have real pressure and the Iranians -- the problem here is. Iran their program is advancing to a point where it's no civilian -- no credible civilian use. And they need to answer and try to reach a deal that is verifiable and that we can live with.

BLITZER: Do you believe this is all being done out of an abundance of caution, or are there specific threats that the U.S. has come up with?

MCGURK: I think, well, if I step back, I think what happened here, there was a very important meeting at Camp David on Sunday with all the president's national security advisers and principals, and they said there's escalating tensions. They then ordered what's called an emergency action committee review in the embassies. That's a very standard procedure. In the event we have this exchange of fire, what would you want? And you have an order departure of non-essential personnel. That's a prudent step to take, but it also shows that we are positioning ourselves in the event that military force is needed to handle Iran's nuclear program.

We hope it's not. We hope these talks can succeed. But I just want to emphasize this issue's coming to a head because of that snapback deadline. The next few months are really critical.

BLITZER: It's a very, very sensitive, delicate moment in the Middle East right now. A source now telling CNN that President Trump has actually told the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to end the war in Gaza and to stop any talk of an attack on Iran. Is there any reason to believe Netanyahu is about to listen?

MCGURK: Well, it's not -- look, the Israelis are watching what the Iranians or what the enemies of Israel also do. We all want this war in Gaza to stop. We all want this war in Gaza -- it has to come to an end. There's an offer on the table right now against Steve Witkoff. The envoy has put this down. If Hamas would release ten hostages, that's half the living hostages who are left. We have a 60-day ceasefire immediately, and Hamas has said no to that deal. I think a lot of pressure should come down and Hamas, take that deal, let's stop the war, let's get the aid moving and let's give diplomacy a chance.

But it's not all on Israel. It's also on Iran and its proxy groups who continue to escalate and be provocative. I think the U.S. has a role to put pressure on everybody to try to reduce tension and get this resolved, but, ultimately, Iran has agency. It is showing every indication wants to escalate its nuclear program in the face of this, and that's very dangerous.

BLITZER: Because both the Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump, for that matter, they have both publicly declared that Iran will never have nuclear weapons.

MCGURK: And absolutely right to do so. But that IAEA report last week, it's a comprehensive report. We actually asked for it with our allies last year.

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It was finally completed last week. It's very important for people watching these events to really read and understand that report.