US President Donald Trump has expressed condolences and solidarity with India following the catastrophic crash of Air India flight AI171 near Ahmedabad. Calling it “one of the worst disasters in aviation history,” Trump offered American support in the wake of the tragedy.
“It’s a big country, a strong country. They’ll handle it, I’m sure,” Trump told reporters. “I let them know, anything we can do, we’ll be over there immediately.”
Trump, speaking to the press from his residence, said, “It was a horrible crash. Nobody has any idea what it might be.” Reflecting on preliminary visuals, he noted, “We saw the plane, and it looked like it was flying pretty well. It didn’t look like an explosion. It just looked like maybe the engines lost power.”
#WATCH | US President Donald Trump on the Air India plane crash, “The plane crash was terrible. I’ve already told them, anything we can do… we’ll be over there immediately.”#AirIndiaCrash #AirIndiaPlaneCrash #AirIndiaFlightCrash #plancrash #AhmedabadPlaneCrash #DonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/Pcu5Wu1I2O
— NewsMobile (@NewsMobileIndia) June 12, 2025
The London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed just minutes after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at 1:38 PM local time, plummeting into a residential area in Meghani Nagar. The aircraft was carrying 242 people — 230 adult passengers, two infants, and 12 crew members.
According to Air India, the victims include 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, one Canadian citizen, and seven Portuguese nationals. At least 41 passengers are injured, many of them critically. The confirmed death toll has already crossed 200, making it the deadliest air crash globally in more than a decade.
Global leaders have begun expressing condolences, and several countries, including the U.S., have offered to assist in recovery and investigation efforts. This disaster comes as a massive blow to India’s aviation sector and has prompted calls for a thorough review of aircraft safety and emergency response mechanisms.
