NEED TO KNOW
- The captain and first officers on the Air India flight that crashed on Thursday have been identified as Sumeet Sabharwal and Clive Kunder, respectively
- Bollywood star Vikrant Massey stated on Instagram that Kunder is the son of his uncle, Clifford Kunder
- Sabharwal reportedly had 8,200 hours of flight experience, while Kundar had 1,100 hours
The captain and first officer aboard the Air India flight that crashed shortly after taking off for a trip to London have been identified.
Officials said the plane was under the command of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and first officer Clive Kundar, according to News18 and The Hindustan Times.
Bollywood star Vikrant Massey shared in his Instagram Stories confirming his cousin, Kunder, was the first officer on Flight AI171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which went down moments after it took off on Thursday, June 12.
“My heart breaks for the families & loved ones of the ones who lost their lives in the unimaginably tragic air crash in Ahmedabad today,” Massey wrote.
“It pains me even more to know that my uncle, Clifford Kunder lost his son, Clive Kunder who was the 1st officer operating on that fateful flight,” he added. “May God give strength to you and your family uncle and to all deeply affected.”
Kundar had 1,100 hours of flight experience, while Sabharwal had 8,200, according to The Economic Times.
Flight AI171 was “traveling from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick” when it was “involved in an accident after takeoff,” Air India CEO Campbell Wilson said in a statement shared on X.
There were 230 passengers — including 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian national — and 12 crew members on board at the time, he said.
The AP reported the crash occurred in a residential area about 1:43 p.m. local time — just 5 minutes after taking off.
Video shows the plane descending to the ground before being consumed in a large, fiery explosion. Photos from the scene show large destruction and the aftermath of a fire.
One person, a 40-year-old British man named Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, survived the crash, according to local media reports.
“Thirty seconds after takeoff, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed,” he told the Times from his hospital bed. “It all happened so quickly.”
No details have been released about what caused the crash or how many people have died. An investigation is underway.
Wilson said in his statement that Air India is “actively working with the authorities on all of the emergency response efforts.” A help line was also set up for friends and family members impacted by the crash, he added.
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“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, their families and loved ones,” Wilson stated.
He later added, “We understand that people are eager for information. Please know that we will continue to share accurate and timely information as soon as we can. But anything we report must be accurate and not speculative. We owe that to everyone involved.”
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