“Thrust not achieved… falling… Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!” — those were the chilling last words from the cockpit of Air India Flight AI-171, seconds before the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed near the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad on Thursday, killing 274 people, including 241 on board.
Ahmedabad police confirmed that the desperate distress call was the final transmission to Air Traffic Control (ATC) before all communication was lost. The London-bound flight had taken off with 242 people, 230 passengers and 12 crew, and crashed into the hostel complex of B J Medical College shortly after leaving the runway.
Crash likely caused by thrust failure
Initial assessments suggest the aircraft used nearly the entire 3.5-km runway for takeoff, significantly longer than the typical 2.5 to 3 km required for a wide-bodied jet. Investigators believe this extended roll could indicate that the jet failed to generate sufficient thrust for a stable climb. “The longer runway roll hints at a possibility of the aircraft not having adequate thrust for take-off,” a source close to the investigation said, adding that definitive conclusions would depend on black box analysis.
Airport sources said the weather was clear, visibility was good, and there were no requests from the cockpit for runway changes or flap reconfigurations. No engine irregularities or pitch deviations were observed on radar or by ground crews. “All protocols were followed,” an official noted.
CCTV footage from the airport corroborates the extended take-off and abrupt descent. Authorities are now relying on flight data and cockpit voice recorders to understand the technical failure that caused the aircraft to go down.
DNA confirms identity of 31 victims
Authorities have so far identified 31 crash victims through DNA testing, and 12 families have claimed the bodies, according to Dr Rajnish Patel, additional civil superintendent at B J Medical College. “Thirty-one DNA samples have matched till now. These deceased were from Udaipur, Vadodara, Kheda, Mehsana, Ahmedabad and Botad districts,” Patel said. Many of the bodies were severely burned or mutilated, requiring forensic matching. Officials earlier said 230 teams have been deployed to coordinate with the families of the deceased.
Lone survivor, massive toll
Of the 242 people on board, 241 died, and one British-Indian man seated in 11A survived the crash. In addition, at least 31 people on the ground, including five MBBS students in the hostel, also perished, bringing the total death toll to 274.
The jet had just lifted off for Gatwick, London, when it lost altitude and crashed into the Meghaninagar campus before bursting into flames. The DGCA is now conducting a full probe.