The Airline Pilots' Association of India (ALPA India) has reacted to the preliminary report on the crash, raising concerns over the way the investigation is being handled.

In a statement reported by Indian media, external, the pilots' union said it was "surprised at the secrecy surrounding these investigations" and alleged that "suitably qualified personnel were not taken on board for the probe".

“We feel that the investigation is being driven in a direction presuming the guilt of pilots and we strongly object to this line of thought,” ALPA India's president, Captain Sam Thomas, says in the statement.

The preliminary report says just seconds after take-off, the cockpit audio captured one pilot asking the other, “Why did you do the cut off?”, referring to the fuel switch that starved the engines. The other replied, “I didn’t.” It's still unclear who asked the question and who answered.

The union urges the authorities to allow it to join the process to help ensure transparency.

“We once again request the powers that be to include us even in the capacity of observers so as to provide the requisite transparency in the investigations,” the statement adds.

Soutik Biswas
India Correspondent

There was much speculation about the Air India Boeing 787's Enhanced Airborne Flight Recorders (EAFRs) - or the "black boxes" - which will help tell the story of the crash.

These devices record flight data and cockpit audio, including pilot mics, radio calls and ambient cockpit sounds.

The preliminary report offers key insights into how they were recovered and what they revealed.

One recorder was found on 13 June, a day after the crash, atop a building, heavily damaged by impact and heat, with exposed wires and burned connectors.

The second was recovered three days later near another building, still attached to its equipment shelf.

Both were sent to the AAIB lab in Delhi on 24 June. As in previous cases, investigators used a “Golden Chassis” - an identical EAFR unit - and special download cables sourced from the NTSB in the US to extract the data.

The AAIB successfully retrieved about 49 hours of flight data covering six flights, including the crash, and two hours of cockpit audio capturing the final moments.

Nikita Yadav
BBC News, Delhi

Image source, Getty Images

Both Enhanced Airborne Flight Recorders (EAFR) were recovered from the wreckage within four days of the crash.

The EAFR, or "black box", captures audio from the cockpit, including pilot conversations and alarms, and logs crucial flight data like altitude, speed and engine performance.

It is a vital tool in air crash investigations, helping experts reconstruct the flight's final moments.

The black boxes, unlike the name suggests, are actually two bright orange devices designed to survive a crash. They are painted with reflective strips for easier recovery.

Image source, Getty Images

On the afternoon on 12 June, the dining hall at the residential hostel of BJ Medical College in Ahmedabad was teeming with students getting lunch.

The room buzzed with the sound of jokes, banter between friends and the odd bit of academic discussion.

By 13:39 local time, there were at least 35 people in the cafeteria. Some had already collected their food and were lounging around, while others were in the queue waiting for their turn.

In seconds, everything changed.

The general hum of the canteen was pierced by the sound of approaching jet engines - and the room exploded.

We now know that 19 people died on the ground after the Air India flight crashed into a busy neighbourhood in Ahmedabad, seconds after taking off.

In the aftermath of the crash, the BBC spoke to eywitnesses to piece together what happened in those terrifying few seconds - you can read it here.

Perhaps the most crucial thing to emerge from the preliminary report is that the plane's fuel switches were cut off shortly before the crash.

"It's a really important switch and therefore it's one that's protected against somebody just brushing against it," explains Graham Braithwaite, director of Aerospace and Aviation at Cranfield University.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he says in order for a pilot to move the switch, "they've got to lift it and move very positively the position".

He points out the report does not say a pilot moved the switch, and at this stage "you would expect the report to keep an open mind".

On wider danger to passengers, he says the area of focus in this investigation is "very specifically on this flight, on this particular aircraft on this day".

"The 787 had flown a billion passengers safely prior to this flight" and it has a good record, Braithwaite adds.

As reactions continue to come in following the release of the preliminary report, a prayer service has been held in Mumbai, where both pilots were based.

The church, where the service was held in honour of the 12 crew lost in the crash, was packed full of people paying their respects.

The father of First Officer Clive Kunder was in attendance, according to Reuters, which reported "emotional scenes played out among grieving relatives".

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Earlier reports, including from the BBC, reported the death toll as 270, based on figures from officials at the crash site and doctors at the hospitals where the injured were being treated.

But days after the crash, Gujarat government officials revised the number, saying that 260 people were killed.

This figure includes 241 of the 242 passengers on board the flight and 19 casualties on the ground. The plane crashed into the canteen a doctors' hostel in Ahmedabad, where student doctors were getting lunch.

The British man who survived the Air India plane crash says he managed to escape the wreckage through an opening in the plane's fuselage.

Speaking to Indian state media the day after the crash, Vishwashkumar Ramesh, who was in seat 11A, said the lights inside the aircraft "started flickering" moments after take off.

He said within five-to-10 seconds, it felt like the plane was "stuck in the air".

"The lights started flickering green and white... suddenly slammed into a building and exploded. I still can't believe how I survived. I walked out of the rubble."

Ramesh’s brother, who was also on the flight, did not survive the tragedy - a week later, Vishwashkumar carried Ajay's coffin at his funeral.

Nikhil Inamdar and Archana Shukla
BBC News

The narrative was just beginning to change for Air India in the lead-up to the tragedy.

In the hands of a new private owner - the Tata Group bought the airline from the government in 2022 - Air India showed an operating profit, better revenues and fewer customer complaints.

Although disgruntlement about poor service standards, dysfunctional in-house entertainment and flight delays hadn't entirely gone away, there was an understanding that these were niggling transition troubles as the airline undertook multiple complex mergers to streamline its operations.

The cosmetic improvements were beginning to show too; slick new livery and retrofitted interiors on some aircraft, brand-new A-350s in the fleet deployed on key routes and a record-breaking order for new planes to retire old ones to service India's booming aviation market.

After years of neglect when Air India was under state ownership, the Tatas said earlier this year that they'd embarked on the "final climb phrase" of the carrier's transformation journey towards becoming a "world-class" airline.

Here is how the devastating crash has cast a shadow on these plans.

Laxmi Patel
BBC Gujarati

Image source, Ayushi Christian

Ayushi Christian, wife of Lawrence Christian, who was among the crash victims, says she wants justice to be served to those who lost their lives.

The couple married in 2023 and had migrated to the UK 18 months ago.

Lawrence had visited India to perform the last rites of his father and was returning to UK on the AI 171 flight.

"It has been one month since the crash, but no action has been taken by the government so far. [The] preliminary investigation report has come out today. Action should be taken against those responsible for the incident," Ayushi says.

Image source, Supplied

Dr Mario Donadi was a friend of Dr Prateek Joshi, who was travelling on the Air India flight back to the UK with his family.

Joshi took a picture of himself, his wife and their three kids on the plane and posted it just before take-off.

Donadi tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the report is a "huge slap in the face" after the loss of a "dear colleague of mine".

"How [can] something so trivial [as] a simple switch being deactivated lead to such a loss of life, of such huge dreams?" he asked.

Joshi "was always easy-going, very calm" and professional, Donadi says.

Donadi explains that Joshi was on his way to "fulfil the dream of his life" by moving to the UK with his family. The consultant radiologist had been working there for a few years, and had recently secured a way to bring his wife and their children over to join him.

"Everything shattered like that," Donadi says.

Image source, Supplied

All but one of the 241 passengers on board the London-bound Air India flight died in the crash. The victims also included people who were in and around the buildings the plane crashed into.

Among them are:

Fiongal and Jamie Greenlaw-Meek, a married British couple, ran a spiritual wellness centre in London. A day before their flight, they posted a video on Instagram showing them laughing and joking about their trip to India.

Among the victims was also Prateek Joshi, a consultant radiologist from Derby, his wife and three young children. He had shared a photo of all of them seated in the plane just before it departed.

Raxa Modha, and her two-year-old grandson, Rudra, were believed to have been flying back to England for a memorial service for Modha's late husband, Kishor, who died in April from cancer.

The two pilots, First Officer Clive Kundar and Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, also lost their lives. Kundar had 3,403 total flying hours, with 1,128 on the Dreamliner. Sabharwal was a veteran with 15,638 hour of flying experience, including 8,596 on the Boeing 787.

A former nursery school headteacher and Ofsted inspector Panna Nagar also died in the crash.

You can read more about the victims here.

The preliminary report provides some insight into what caused the crash. But while experts analyse its findings, the report has provided little comfort to the families who lost their loved ones.

The BBC's Samira Hussain met Shweta Parihar, whose husband died in the crash. "We trusted the airline. What is the point of the investigation now?” she asks.

Why audio from the cockpit deepens crash mysterypublished at 06:19 British Summer Time 12 July

06:19 BST 12 July

Soutik Biswas
India Correspondent

We now know that just seconds after take-off, both the 12-year-old Boeing 787 Dreamliner's fuel-control switches abruptly moved to the "cut-off" position, starving the engines of fuel and triggering total power loss. Switching to "cut-off" is a move typically done only after landing.

Investigators say the lever-lock fuel switches are designed to prevent accidental activation - they must be pulled up to unlock before flipping, a safety feature dating back to the 1950s. Built to exacting standards, they're highly reliable. Protective guard brackets further shield them from accidental bumps.

"It would be almost impossible to pull both switches with a single movement of one hand, and this makes accidental deployment unlikely," a Canada-based air accidents investigator, who wanted to remain unnamed, told the BBC.

That's what makes the Air India case stand out.

I spoke to several experts from around the world to understand what the report tells us about the crash - and what it doesn't.

You can read Soutik's full analysis on the cockpit audio here.

As we've been reporting, the preliminary investigation into the Air India Flight 171 crash has been released.

If you are just joining us, here's what we know so far:

• The report says both engines of the plane lost thrust after the two fuel control switches were moved from the run to the cut-off position shortly after take-off
• In the cockpit voice recordings, one pilot is heard asking the other “why did you do the cut-off?” - the other says he didn't move them
• Further investigations are ongoing and a final report is expected within a year, the preliminary report says
• The report does not draw any conclusions and has thrown up new questions about the fuel control switches and what caused them to change position
• Family members of victims say the reason for the crash will not take away from their grief. "We are still wading through our feelings at this point, trying to make sense of our loss," the cousin of a crew member tells the BBC

India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) lays out in its report what the next steps are following this preliminary investigation into the Air India Flight 171 crash.

These include:

• Examining further "components of interest" that have been identified
• Testing very limited samples of fuel retrieved from parts of the plane at a suitable facility
• Analysing data from two of the inflight recorders in detail
• Undertaking a complete analysis of post-mortem reports of the crew and the passengers

The investigation is ongoing and a final report is expected within a year.

Soutik Biswas
India Correspondent

The Air India 787 was destroyed after crashing into multiple buildings outside the airport in Ahmedabad after take-off in June.

Here's what the preliminary report reveals:

• The aircraft hit the BJ Medical College hostel, about 0.9 nautical miles from the runway
• It clipped trees and a chimney, then crashed into a building with a slight nose-up
• Five buildings were damaged in total, with major structural and fire damage. Wreckage was scattered across a 1000ft x 400ft area
• The debris pattern shows the aircraft broke apart as it tore through structures - giving investigators some clues about its final moments

Image source, Getty Images

Ishadrita Lahiri
BBC Hindi

Image source, Lamnunthem Singson's family

Family members of the crash victims are continuing to grapple with what the release of the preliminary investigation means to them.

The cousin of Lamnunthem Singson, a crew member killed in the crash, says he is not sure if knowing the reason for the crash will change the way they are grieving.

"We are still wading through our own feelings at this point, trying to make sense of our loss," says Ngamlienlal Kipgen.

"I believe closure comes from saying our goodbyes in our own way and living in a way that honours and celebrates them. Her story will live on through us and the many loved ones she left behind," he adds.

Soutik Biswas
India Correspondent

The preliminary report has brought fresh attention to the two pilots in control of the ill-fated Air India flight.

Just seconds after take-off, cockpit audio captured one pilot asking the other, “Why did you do the cut-off?”- referring to the fuel switch that starved the engines. The other replied, “I didn’t.” It's still unclear who asked the question - and who answered.

Here’s what we know about the crew.

Capt Sumeet Sabharwal, 56, was a veteran with 30 years of experience at Air India. He had logged 15,638 flying hours, including 8,596 on the Boeing 787. Based in Mumbai, he lived with his elderly father and was looking forward to retirement.

First Officer Clive Kunder, 32, had 3,403 total flying hours, with 1,128 on the Dreamliner. He joined Air India in 2017 and had dreamed of flying since school.

Both were based in Mumbai and had arrived in Ahmedabad the day before the flight, with adequate rest, the report says. Kunder was the pilot flying, while Sabharwal was the pilot monitoring, it says.

The crew had passed pre-flight breathalyser tests and were seen at the gate on CCTV before they took off, the report adds.

Most of the families of those killed in June's crash had to wait for days to get the bodies of their loved ones.

Medical teams worked arduously to match DNA samples to identify victims.

The civil hospital in the city witnessed heart-breaking scenes for several days after the crash.