An Air India passenger plane crashed in Gujarat's Ahmedabad on Thursday afternoon with more than 200 people onboard.
The Air India AI171 flight was going from Ahmedabad to London. It crashed in Ahmedabad’s Shahibaug area shortly after takeoff.
This is at least the second major aviation accident in Ahmedabad. Earlier in 1988, an Indian Airlines flight crashed in the city and 133 people were killed in the incident.
**Follow our full live coverage of the Ahmedabad plane crash here**The 1988 air crash was the worst in India until the Charkhi Dadri crash of 1996 in which at least 349 people were killed.
Here are the 10 worst aviation disaster in Indian history.
1. Charkhi Dadri crash, 1996
A Saudi plane and a Kazakhstani plan collided in the sky over Haryana’s Charkhi Dadri district on November 12, 1996, killing at least 349 people.
The accident is the worst mid-air collision till date in history. Investigators found pilot error to be the cause of the accident.
Investigators found that the Kazakhstani pilot could not understand repeated instruction of the air traffic controller because of their poor understanding of English language, according to Rediff News.
While the Kazakhstani plane was commanded to fly at 15,000 feet, the plane made an unauthorised descent to 14,000 feet that led to the collision with the Saudi plane that was approaching Delhi.
2. Arabian Sea crash, 1978
Air India flight 855, named Emperor Ashoka, crashed into the Arabian Sea on January 1, 1978. All 213 people on board were killed.
The Mumbai-Dubai flight crashed two miles from shore and within just four minutes of the take-off.
The accident is believed to be a result of a combination of pilot error and equipment malfunction.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe qualifications of the pilots were also put into question. The pilot had been grounded in 1975 for uncontrolled diabetes and excessive use of alcohol and consumption of alcohol the night before the flight made him more susceptible to disorientation, according to a US court, as per a UPI report from 1985.
3. Mangalore crash, 2010
An Air India Express flight overshot the runway at Karnataka’s Mangalore airport on May 22, 2010, and fell into a gorge, killing 158 lives.
An investigation blamed the accident on the captain’s failure to discontinue the “unstabilised approach” and his persistence in continuing with the landing approach despite multiple calls from his first officer to turn around and many warnings from Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System.
The Mangalore airport’s ’tabletop runway’ is particularly dangerous. A tabletop runway is one that’s built like a raised plateau where it is higher than the surrounding terrain, turning the surroundings into a gorge.
4. Ahmedabad crash, 1988
Indian Airlines flight IC113 crashed in Ahmedabad on October 19, 1988, killing 133 people on board.
Investigators blamed the accident on errors of the pilot-in-command and co-pilot, which were aggravated by bad weather.
Investigators said that the non-adherence of procedures under poor visibility conditions and the failure to follow approved procedures and directives caused the accident.
5. Air India crash in Mont Blanc, Europe
Air India flight 101 crashed near the summit of Mont Blanc in Europe’s Alps on January 24, 1966, killing all 117 people on board.
Among the passengers of the Bombay-New York flight was scientist Homi Jehangir Bhabha, the father of the Indian nuclear programme.
The disaster is notable for the interest it has generated over the years. Even though pilot error has been blamed for the disaster, no decisive conclusion has been reached, and many theories over the years have developed around the accident.
6. Patna crash, 2000
An Alliance Air plane crashed in Patna on July 17, 2000, killing a total of 60 people.
While 55 people in the plane were killed, five people on the ground were also killed. The flight was going from Kolkata to Delhi via Patna and Lucknow.
7. Kozhikode 2020 crash
At least 20 people, including a pilot, were killed in 2020 when the Air India Express Dubai-Kozhikode Vande Bharat flight crashed at Kozhikode, Kerala.
Investigators blamed pilot error for the accident that was worsened by the tabletop runway that led to the plane falling 110 feet after overshooting the runway.
8. Aurangabad crash, 1993
Indian Airlines flight IC491 crashed in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad on April 26, 1993, killing 55 people.
The plane lifted at the fag-end of the runway and collided into a truck 410 feet from the runway. The plane that hit high-tension electric wires around 3 kilometres off the runway and hit the ground. Pilot error as well as the failure of officials to regulate mobile traffic were held responsible for the disaster.
9. Bombay crash, 1976
Indian Airlines flight 171 crashed at Bombay (now Mumbai) October 12, 1976, killing all 95 onboard.
10. Bangalore crash, 1990
Indian Airlines flight IC 605 crashed in Karnataka’s Bengaluru (then Bangalore) on February 14, 1990, killing 92 people.
Pilot error and possible technical confusion were blamed for the accident.