India to London plane crashes with at least 242 people on board

A plane carrying at least 242 people to London Gatwick has crashed at an airport in India.

The Air India flight crashed in a "civilian area" near Ahmedabad Airport, according to police.

Video circulating on social media shows massive plumes of smoke rising into the sky near the airport in the north-western city in Gujarat state.

Air India said in a post on X flight AI171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick was "involved in an incident today".

"At this moment, we are ascertaining the details and will share further updates at the earliest," it said.

In a statement, London Gatwick confirmed the crash, saying the flight was due to land at 6.25pm local time on Thursday.

Flightradar says a signal was last received from the aircraft less than a minute after take-off.

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