(BBC) – It was a hot and dry afternoon on 12 June last year, when Air India Flight 171 left the terminal at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Airport in Ahmedabad in the western Indian state of Gujarat. Settling into their seats for the nine-and-a-half-hour journey to London were 230 passengers – including 169 Indian nationals and 53 Britons. Looking after them were 10 cabin crew.
On the flight deck were Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, a pilot with decades of experience, and his younger colleague, first officer Clive Kunder. Just 32 seconds after take-off the plane crashed, killing all but one of those on board. Another 19 people on the ground were also killed.
CCTV footage from the airport and a social media video show the aircraft taking-off in what looks like a normal fashion, but rather than gain height it appears to hang in the air, before gliding gently downwards.
It disappears from view behind buildings and trees. Seconds later a huge cloud of flame and black smoke appears, and the magnitude of the disaster becomes apparent. What is not at all clear from the footage, however, is what actually caused the crash.
