Dreamliner, carrying 242 passengers and crew and headed for Britain’s Gatwick Airport, began losing altitude just seconds after takeoff.

Air India canceled multiple international flights due to operational challenges following the Ahmedabad crash, affecting routes including Ahmedabad to London and Delhi to Paris. Passengers are being provided with alternative arrangements and accommodation.

Captain Kishore Chinta, a former investigator with India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), calls this "the rarest of the rare" crashes - a controlled flight into terrain just 30 seconds after take-off. "To my knowledge, nothing quite like this has ever happened," he told the BBC.