Editor's note: This story is no longer being updated. You can find the latest updates on the crash here.
Watch NBC 5 free wherever you are
WATCH HERERescue workers were searching for survivors Thursday after an Air India plane carrying 242 passengers and crew crashed shortly after takeoff from an airport in the Indian city of Ahmedabad into a building where medical students were sitting down to lunch.
While the city's police commissioner said none of the people aboard the London-bound plane survived the crash, there were reports in the local Indian media that one man was able to escape the airliner alive. The British national, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, told Indian media that "it all happened so quickly."
Get top local stories delivered to you every morning with NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
SIGN UP "Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed," he told The Hindustan Times. NBC News confirmed Ramesh's name and seat number reported in local media match the flight manifest. His family confirmed to Sky News that he survived the flight, though they had not heard from another family member who they believe was on the plane.
Similarly, relatives of those who were aboard the Boeing 787 Dreamliner waited for word of their loved ones. Many were based at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad and at Gatwick Airport outside of London, which was where the flight was headed.
The National Transportation Safety Board said on X that it was sending a team of investigators to assist the Indian authorities probing the first-ever crash of this kind of Boeing airliner.
U.S. & World
Footage posted to social media shortly after the crash and verified by NBC News shows plumes of thick, black smoke rising from a civilian location to the south of the airport.
And the first reports on the fate of the people aboard the flight were grim.
“It appears there are no survivors in the plane crash,” G.S. Malik, police commissioner for Ahmedabad, told The Associated Press, adding that “some locals would have also died” when the plane crashed into a residential area where offices were also located.
“Exact figures on casualties are being ascertained,” he said.
Kanan Desai, a top city police official, later told Reuters that 204 bodies had so far been recovered from the crash site and brought to local hospitals. That figure could also include those who died on the ground from the impact, he added.
The plane’s tail could be seen protruding from the wall of a building in a picture from the crash site shared on X by India’s central police force. Other images showed rescuers standing next to charred wreckage and a downed tree near a residential complex.
The plane was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members, a spokesperson for the airline told NBC News.
Among the passengers were 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, one Canadian national and seven Portuguese nationals, the airline said in a separate statement. “The injured are being taken to the nearest hospitals,” it added.
The airline did not provide nationalities of the crew members.
But India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said in a statement the pilots had lots of flying experience under their belts.
“The aircraft was under the command of Capt Sumeet Sabharwal with First Officer Clive Kundar,” the statement said.
Sabharwal had logged 8,200 hours of flying time. His co-pilot had 1,100 hours of flying experience, it said.
The plane had crashed into a hostel for B.J. Medical College and Civil Hospital students and relatives, the Federation of All Indian Medical Associations wrote on X.
The wife of a doctor was found dead and 50 students from the college were admitted to the hospital and are in stable condition, the organization posted.
The skies appeared to be clear when the plane, which was scheduled to depart at 1:10 p.m. local time (3:40 a.m. ET), and expected to land in London at 6:25 p.m. local time (1:25 p.m. ET), took off.
The plane had reached an altitude of some 625 feet when pilot issued a Mayday call for help and the airline started to go down, officials said.
Footage of the doomed flight showed the plane's landing gear was still down when it crashed and created a ball of flames.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the tragedy had “stunned and saddened us,” in a post on X. “It is heartbreaking beyond words. In this sad hour, my thoughts are with everyone affected by it,” he added.
Separately, the country’s Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said in a post on X that he was “ shocked and devastated.”
“I am personally monitoring the situation and have directed all aviation and emergency response agencies to take swift and coordinated action,” he added. “Rescue teams have been mobilized, and all efforts are being made to ensure medical aid and relief support are being rushed to the site.”
In England, King Charles III said he was praying for the victims and their relatives Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the unfolding scenes "devastating."
The aircraft involved is a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, according to flight tracking site Flightradar24, which said it received the last signal from the aircraft just seconds after takeoff.
“We are aware of initial reports and are working to gather more information,” Boeing said in a statement.
Plane crashes are not common in India, which boasts some of the world’s strictest air standards after being rattled by a series of bombings and hijackings from the 1970s to 1990s.
The crash plummeted the Boeing stock, which in pre-market trading was down over 8%.
Once a state-owned airline, Air India came under the control of the Indian-conglomerate, Tata Group, whose chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran said an emergency center has been activated for family members seeking information.
“Our primary focus is on supporting all the affected people and their families,” he said in a statement posted on X
This is a developing story. Please check back for further updates.
This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:
