Air India AI-171 Crash: Govt Reveals 'Mayday' Call in First Briefing, Launches High-Level Probe

June 14, 2025:

The pilots of Air India flight AI-171, bound for London, sent a final radio message to Air Traffic Control just 36 seconds after take-off from Ahmedabad, the Aviation Ministry said on Saturday afternoon. According to the Ministry, the distress call was made at 1:39 p.m. after the aircraft failed to climb beyond 650 feet. However, the ATC received no further response, as the plane had already crashed by then.

In the first press briefing since the aircraft crashed in Ahmedabad on June 12, civil aviation secretary Samir Kumar Sinha said the aircraft crashed into a medical hostel complex in Meghaninagar exactly one minute after take-off. 

"Mayday, Mayday..." were the final words of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and his crew before the heavily-fuelled Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed into a college students' hostel in a residential area near the airport, exploding into a fireball that killed all but one of the 242 people on board.

“After reaching at a height of 650 feet, the aircraft started to lose height. The pilot gave a Mayday call to the ATC at 1:39 PM (June 12), civil aviation secretary said at the press briefing. 

"As per the ATC, when it tried to contact the aircraft then there was no response. After exactly one minute, the aircraft crashed in Meghani Nagar, situated about 2 km from the airport,” Sinha added.

“... we received information the plane from Ahmedabad to Gatwick London had crashed. We immediately got detailed information about this through Ahmedabad ATC ... there were a total of 242 people on board, consisting of 230 passengers, 10 crew, and two pilots," Mr Sinha said.

A high-level multi-disciplinary committee, chaired by the Union Home Secretary, has been formed to investigate the causes behind the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad and recommend comprehensive measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.

The Civil Aviation Ministry clarified that this panel will not replace ongoing investigations by other relevant authorities. Instead, it will concentrate on developing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the prevention and management of such emergencies. The committee is expected to submit its report within three months, the Ministry added.