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The British royal family has joined the long list of individuals who reacted to the Air India plane incident. During the yearly Sovereign's Birthday Parade, which took place on Saturday, June 14, 2025, King Charles and other members of the British royal family paid their respects to victims of the fatal plane crash.
To honor the lives lost, the King and other royal family members wore black armbands and observed a moment of silence. According to Buckingham Palace, this action was requested by King Charles
“as a mark of respect for the lives lost, the families in mourning, and all the communities affected by this awful tragedy.”
More details on the Air India plane incident
On Thursday, June 12, 2025, an Air India plane bound for London took off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad, at 1:39 p.m. A few minutes after its takeoff, the plane, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, crashed into a medical hostel in Meghani Naga, two kilometers from the airport. The crash took the lives of all but one of the 242 people on the plane, passengers and crew included.
The passengers on the plane included 169 Indians, 53 Britons, 7 Portuguese nationals, and 1 Canadian. Only one British national, Vishwashkumar Ramesh, survived the fatal crash. The Air India plane accident also took the lives of eight local people on the ground, including four medical students.
According to Samir Kumar Sinha, a secretary for India’s aviation ministry, “Mayday, mayday” was the last radio message sent from Air India plane 171. The distress call was made by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, the pilot of the aircraft, less than a minute after takeoff. He adds that when air traffic control responded to the emergency call, there was no response from the other end. The plane crashed a few seconds later.
The Prime Minister of India visited the site of the crash on Thursday, June 12, and on Friday, he visited the lone survivor of the accident.
“I don't know about the other part of the plane, but where I landed was on the ground. I could see that there was space outside the plane, so when my door broke, I tried to escape through a little space, and I did,” Ramesh told local media after recounting he believed he was going die.
Some of the victims that lost their lives, as reported by BBC, include sisters Dhir and Heer Baxi, couple Kalyani and Gaurav Brahmbhatt, the Girish family of four, couple Fiongal and Jamie Greenlaw-Meek, the Joshi family of five, Mohammed Adnan Master, and Panna Nagar.
Read more: What happened at King Charles' birthday parade? Everything we know so far
As of now, the cause of the crash remains unknown; however, professionals are working on analyzing one of the plane's black boxes to determine the cause.
Read more: Royal Family at Trooping the Colour 2025: Every family member present on Palace Balcony
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