Days after the tragic crash of Air India Flight AI-171 near Ahmedabad, Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Samir Kumar Sinha, revealed that air traffic controllers received no response from the cockpit after the pilot issued a Mayday distress call. Moments later, the aircraft plunged to the ground in Medhaninagar, killing 241 people.
“At 1:39 pm, the pilot informed Ahmedabad ATC of a Mayday—signaling full emergency. When ATC tried to re-establish contact, there was no response. One minute later, the aircraft crashed approximately 2 km from the airport,” Sinha stated during a press briefing.
He said the aircraft—a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner—had just reached 650 feet when it began losing altitude. The flight, which had 242 individuals onboard—including 230 passengers, 2 pilots, and 10 crew members—crashed within minutes of takeoff.
“The aircraft had no prior history of accidents. It had successfully completed the Paris–Delhi–Ahmedabad sector earlier that day,” Sinha added. He also noted that the Ahmedabad airport runway was closed at 2:30 pm following the crash and was reopened for limited flights by 5:00 pm after protocol checks.
Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu, who also addressed the media, emphasized that the recovery of the black box from the crash site would be pivotal in uncovering the cause of the disaster.
“The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) was immediately activated. Yesterday, the black box was recovered at around 5 pm. The decoding process is expected to shed light on what transpired in the moments leading up to the crash,” Naidu said.
He described the crash as a national tragedy: “The last two days have been incredibly difficult. The incident has shaken the entire nation. I extend my deepest condolences to the families who lost their loved ones. Having personally lost my father in a road accident, I understand their pain to some extent.”
The AAIB, under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, continues its investigation into the incident, which has become one of the deadliest aviation disasters in recent Indian history.