Ahmedabad's city police commissioner says there appears to be no survivors
“It appears there are no survivors in the plane crash,” Commissioner G.S. Malik told The Associated Press.
He added that with the plane crashing in a residential area with offices, “some locals would have also died.”
“Exact figures on casualties are being ascertained,” he said.
The flight crashed midday shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad airport with more than 240 people on board.
Crash appeared surprising at first glance, safety expert says
John McDermid, a computer scence professor at the University of York with expertise in safety engineering, said that while it was too early to know much about the cause of the crash it appeared to be very surprising at first glance.
While takeoffs and landings are the most dangerous phases of a flight, he noted that the plane had not climbed above 200 meters (650 feet).
“Pilots can abort takeoff until quite late,” McDermid said. “So it seems like the problem occurred very suddenly in the final part of the takeoff roll, or shortly after takeoff, and was sufficiently serious to be unmanageable.”
He also said that jets have many backup systems, such as the ability to climb with only one engine, which also made it an unusual accident.