Ahmedabad: An Air India plane bound for London with 242 people on board crashed minutes after taking off from India’s western city of Ahmedabad today, the airline and police said. The plane was headed to Gatwick airport in the UK, Air India stated, while police officers reported that it crashed in a civilian area near the airport.

According to Oman News Agency, aviation tracking site ‘Flightradar24’ identified the aircraft as a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, one of the most modern passenger aircraft in service. Contact with the plane was lost seconds after takeoff, when it reached an altitude of 625 feet, it added.