New findings have come to light about the tragic crash which took the lives of more than 200 passengers. Reports have now exposed shocking details behind the heartbreaking incident.
A fuel interruption to the engines was behind last month’s Air India disaster that left 260 dead, according to an early investigation. The flight, heading to London, had just lifted off from Ahmedabad airport before it plummeted, with only one passenger making it out alive.
Narendra Modi visits the crash site on June 13, 2025, in Gujarat, India. | Source: Getty Images
Details from India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, shared by CNN, revealed that the Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s fuel control switches were flipped, cutting power to the engines.
Investigators extracted crucial data from the aircraft’s black boxes, which held 49 hours of flight records and two hours of cockpit audio capturing the final moments before the crash.
Wreckage showing the tail section of the Air India Boeing 787-8 is pictured in a residential area on June 13, 2025, in Ahmedabad, India. | Source: Getty Images
According to the report, the jet had reached 180 knots when both engines were shut down, with each fuel cutoff switch flipped just one second apart.
Firefighters work at the site where Air India flight 171 crashed in a residential area on June 12, 2025, in Ahmedabad, India. | Source: Getty Images
The recording also caught a tense moment between the pilots, “In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff. The other pilot responded that he did not do so.”
Moments later, the switches were flipped back to their correct positions, and the engines started to recover. However, the aircraft went down before full power could be restored.
