A London-bound passenger plane crashed in the Indian city of Ahmedabad on Thursday and all 242 people on board were believed killed, with the jet smashing into buildings housing doctors and their families.An AFP journalist saw people recovering bodies and firefighters trying to douse the smouldering wreckage after the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner hit buildings during lunchtime.”The tragedy in Ahmedabad has stunned and saddened us. It is heartbreaking beyond words,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after Air India’s flight 171 crashed after takeoff.City police commissioner GS Malik told AFP there “appears to be no survivor in the crash”. Rescue teams supported by the military had “found 204 bodies”, he said, with people aboard the plane and those on the ground among the dead.The AFP journalist saw a section of the plane lying on the ground and a building ablaze, with thick black smoke billowing into the air.”One half of the plane crashed into the residential building where doctors lived with their families,” said Krishna, a doctor who did not give his full name.”The nose and front wheel landed on the canteen building where students were having lunch,” he said.Krishna said he saw “about 15 to 20 burnt bodies”, while he and his colleagues rescued around 15 students.India’s civil aviation authority said there were 242 people aboard, including two pilots and 10 cabin crew. Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese, and a Canadian on board the flight bound for London Gatwick.UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the scenes from the crash were “devastating”, while the country’s King Charles III said he was “desperately shocked”.- ‘Devastating’ -The plane issued a mayday call and “crashed immediately after takeoff” outside the airport perimeter, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said.Ahmedabad, the main city of India’s Gujarat state, is home to around eight million people and the busy airport is surrounded by densely packed residential areas.”When we reached the spot there were several bodies lying around and firefighters were dousing the flames,” resident Poonam Patni told AFP.”Many of the bodies were burned,” she said.The AFP journalist saw medics using a cart to load bodies into an ambulance, while a charred metal bed frame stood surrounded by burnt wreckage.A photograph published by India’s Central Industrial Security Force, a national security agency, showed the tail of the plane jutting from a building.The plane came down in an area between a hospital and the city’s Ghoda Camp neighbourhood.The airport was shut, with all flights “suspended until further notice”, its operator said.US planemaker Boeing said it was in touch with Air India and stood “ready to support them” over the incident, which a source close to the case said was the first crash for a 787 Dreamliner.Air India ordered 100 more Airbus planes last year after a giant contract in 2023 for 470 aircraft — 250 Airbus and 220 Boeing. The airline’s chairman, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, said an emergency centre had been set up with a support team for families seeking information.”Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the families and loved ones of all those affected by this devastating event,” he said.India has suffered a series of fatal air crashes, including a 1996 disaster when two jets collided mid-air over New Delhi, killing nearly 350 people.In 2010, an Air India Express jet crashed and burst into flames at Mangalore airport in southwest India, killing 158 of the 166 passengers and crew on board.India’s airline industry has boomed in recent years with Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), last month calling it “nothing short of phenomenal”.The growth of its economy has made India and its 1.4 billion people the world’s fourth-largest air market — domestic and international — with IATA projecting it will become the third biggest within the decade.India’s domestic air passenger traffic reached a milestone last year by “surpassing 500,000 passengers in a single day”, according to India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Legendary Pakistan cricketer Wasim Akram saluted on Thursday the “effort” of the artist who created a statue of him that has spawned scorn on social media.The statue of Akram –- one of the greatest left-arm fast bowlers to play the game -– was installed outside the southwestern city of Hyderabad’s Niaz Stadium in April.Akram is shown bowling wearing the kit of the 1999 World Cup team, when Pakistan were runners-up.Nearby is a statue of a tiger.One fan mocked the statue, saying: “The only thing that looks real is the ball,” adding the face looked more like Hollywood hero Sylvester Stallone.The affable Akram, however, took to social media to praise the effort.”Lots of talk about my sculpture being erected at Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad. Mine is definitely better than the tiger,” he posted on X.”It’s the idea that matters. Credit to the creators, full marks for the effort and thanks to everyone involved.”Australia has a history of placing statues of their iconic players outside their stadiums, while India unveiled one of master batter Sachin Tendulkar outside a stadium in Mumbai in 2023.Niaz stadium chief Shiraz Leghari told AFP: “The artist did his best effort, but accepts it doesn’t resemble (Akram) a hundred percent.”Akram is one of the country’s most celebrated cricketers, having represented Pakistan in 104 Tests and 356 ODIs with 414 and 502 wickets respectively. He was the leading wicket-taker in the 1992 World Cup when Pakistan claimed the trophy.