Air India Plane Crash: CEO Issues Statement, Sends 'Special Team Of Caregivers' To Ahmedabad

Air India Ltd.'s chief executive officer and managing director Campbell Wilson announced that the airline is sending a 'special team of caregivers' to Ahmedabad where their flight AI 171 plane crashed, on Thursday.

"I would like to express our deep sorrow about this event. This is a difficult day for all of us at Air India, and our efforts now are focused entirely on the needs of our passengers, crew members, families and our loved ones," Campbell said on a video posted by Air India's official 'X' (formerly known as Twitter) account.

Campbell said that the company's 'special team of caregivers' is on their way to the city to provide additional support.

"We are actively working with authorities on all emergency response efforts," he said.

The CEO announced that the firm also set up a special helpline: 1800-56-91-444, where friends and family of the passengers on the flight can reach them with their queries.

The plane was carrying a total of 242 persons on board including 12 crew members and was travelling to London from Ahmedabad.

Three National Defence Response Force Teams, consisting of a total of 90 personnel, were sent to the crash site from Gandhinagar, according to ANI.

The reasons for the crash have not yet been ascertained on a concrete basis.

"I know that there are questions, at this stage I cannot answer all of them. Investigations will take time, but anything we can do now, we are doing," Campbell said.

The MD confirmed that the Boeing 787-8 aircraft was carrying 169 Indian, 53 British, seven Portuguese and one Canadian nationals on board.

"We will continue to share accurate and timely information as soon as we can. For now, our teams are working around the clock to support passengers, crew, their families as well as investigators however we can," he said.

Read all updates on the Ahmedabad Plane Crash here.