Air India Boeing Crash Kills Hundreds, Leaves Sole Survivor

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By Shan Li, Andrew Tangel and Krishna Pokharel

(The Wall Street Journal) — An Air India Boeing 787-8 passenger jet carrying 242 people bound for London crashed into a residential area Thursday, less than a minute after taking off from the western Indian state of Gujarat. Only one person survived the crash, which was the first fatal incident for Boeing’s Dreamliner aircraft.

Air India said the sole survivor was a British national of Indian origin who was being treated in the hospital.

“There is good news of one person surviving,” said Indian Home Minister Amit Shah, after meeting the person in a hospital in Ahmedabad, the city where the crash took place.

Shah said rescuers had recovered most of the bodies from the crash site. The amount of fuel involved in the plane’s explosion meant “there was no opportunity to save anyone,” he said.