Air India flight to London Gatwick crashed in Ahmedabad

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

An Air India passenger plane bound for London Gatwick crashed shortly after taking off in Ahmedabad on Thursday, leaving at least 204 people dead.
The flight was carrying 242 passengers and crew when it was involved in what the airline has called a "tragic accident" in the city in western India.
Ahmedabad's police chief told the BBC that 204 bodies had been recovered, while 41 people were being treated for injuries.
He earlier told news agencies there appeared to be no survivors from the crash, and that some local people would also have died given where the plane came down.

We are primarily a UK^▸ (United Kingdom) rail forum - but just occasionally something as major as this takes place - classified so far as a tragic accident - which goes for comment beyond our narrower sphere of interest.

My thoughts for those who died on board (I understand - stop press - at least one survivor) , those who have died or been injured on the ground. And my thoughts with family, friends and colleagues of those who have perished.  This was a flight into Gatwick - an airport that many of us use, and served by the trains we talk about.  Perhaps "meet and greet" people will have been on their way down, and arrivals planned to carry on on "our" trains.

Over coming time, we will learn what caused the plane to fall out of the sky; out of respect for those who have perished or been bereaved, I am not speculating here.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Thank you for your post, grahame.

I held back from posting, earlier today, as the news continued to develop: this is an awful transport incident, with effects felt locally to us, as you wrote.

My thoughts and sympathies, too, are with all the families, friends and colleagues of those deceased.  A very sad day.

CfN.