Air India black box recovered after crash that killed 241 onboard and several others on the ground

AHMEDABAD, India (AP) — The flight data recorder from the crashed Air India flight was recovered Friday in what likely will lead to clues about the cause of the accident that killed 241 people on the plane and a number of others on the ground.

The London-bound Boeing 787 struck a medical college hostel when the plane came down shortly after takeoff on Thursday in a residential area of the northwestern city of Ahmedabad.

The plane's digital flight data recorder, or black box, was recovered from a rooftop near the crash site and India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said that it had begun its work with “full force.” The black box recovery marks an important step forward in the investigation, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said in a social media post.

The device will reveal information about the engine and control settings, in addition to what the voice recorder will show about the cockpit conversations, Paul Fromme, a mechanical engineer with the U.K.-based Institution of Mechanical Engineers said in a statement.

“This should show quickly if there was a loss of engine power or lift after takeoff and allow a preliminary determination of the likely cause for the crash,” said Fromme, who heads the professional association's Aerospace Division.

Separately, the country’s civil aviation regulator ordered Air India to conduct additional inspections of its Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 Dreamliners equipped with General Electric’s GEnx engines. That includes checks of the fuel parameters, cabin air compressor, engine control system, hydraulic system and takeoff parameters, the order said.

Investigators on Friday continued searching the site of one of India’s worst aviation disasters and Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with the lone surviving passenger a day after the crash.

Aviation safety consultant Jeff Guzzetti, a former crash investigator for both the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration, said investigators should be able to answer some important questions about what caused the crash as soon as next week as long as the flight data recorder is in good shape.

Investigators likely are looking at whether wing flaps were set correctly, whether the engine lost power, whether alarms were going off inside the cockpit and whether the plane's crew correctly inputted information about the hot temperature outside and the weight of the fuel and passengers, Guzzetti said.

Mistakes in the data could result in the wing flaps being set incorrectly, he said.

“I’m not saying that this accident’s going to be solved immediately, but I think some basic factual questions will be able to be answered in quick order,” Guzzetti said.

At least five people were were killed on the ground and about 50 injured, but many more victims victims were expected to be found in the search of the crash site. DNA testing was being conducted to identify bodies that were mostly charred beyond recognition.

The plane hit a building hosting a medical college hostel and burst into flames, killing several students, in the city that is the capital of Gujarat, Modi’s home state.

“We are all devastated by the air tragedy in Ahmedabad. The loss of so many lives in such a sudden and heartbreaking manner is beyond words,” Modi said on social media after visiting the site. “We understand their pain and also know that the void left behind will be felt for years to come.”

The survivor was seen in television footage meeting Modi at the government hospital where he was being treated for burns and other injuries.

Viswashkumar Ramesh told India's national broadcaster that he still can’t believe he's alive. He said the aircraft seemed to become stuck immediately after takeoff. He said the lights then came on, and right after that it accelerated but seemed unable to gain height before it crashed.

He said the side of the plane where he was seated fell onto the ground floor of a building and there was space for him to escape after the door broke open. He unfastened his seat belt and forced himself out of the plane.

“When I opened my eyes, I realized I was alive,” he said.

U.S. participants in the investigation will include people from the NTSB, FAA, Boeing and General Electric.

Professor Graham Braithwaite, director of Aerospace and Aviation at Cranfield University, said that the primary goal of the investigation would be “to find opportunities to prevent future accidents.”

“The multinational, multidisciplinary team will work together and can also involve specialists from the manufacturer or operator," he said, "but under very strict controls to ensure the independence of the investigation.”

At the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad, grieving families gathered outside on Friday.

Two doctors at the hospital said that the bodies of four medical students killed on the ground after the plane crash were handed to their families. They said at least 30 other injured students were still hospitalized, and at least four of them were in critical condition.

Modi held a meeting with senior officials Friday and met with some of those injured on the ground during the hospital visit.

Thursday’s Air India crash involved a 12-year-old Boeing 787. Boeing planes have been plagued by safety issues on other types of aircraft.

According to experts, there are currently around 1,200 of the 787 Dreamliner aircraft worldwide and this was the first deadly crash in 16 years of operation.

Indian conglomerate Tata Sons took over Air India in 2022, returning the debt-saddled national carrier to private ownership after decades of government control. Since the takeover, Air India has ordered hundreds of new planes, redesigned its branding and livery and absorbed smaller airlines that Tata held stakes in.

Residents living in the vicinity, who were among the first to rush to the crash site and help with rescue, described the scale of damage like they had never seen.

“In the beginning, I couldn’t understand anything, it was only smoke everywhere. We could see some small parts (of the plane) burning,” Indrajeet Singh Solanki said.

Solanki said that he and many others helped the injured people and rushed them to hospitals. “We had only one aim: to save lives no matter what happens,” he said.

The tragedy has left him shaken.

“It will be hard to sleep for the next few days at least,” Solanki said.

Separately, a bomb threat message was found Friday on Air India flight AI 379, which was bound for New Delhi from Phuket International Airport in southern Thailand. The message was found in a lavatory shortly after the plane took off, officials said.

The plane requested an emergency landing at Phuket and all 156 passengers were evacuated before authorities began an inspection of the plane, the airport said. Thai authorities said that the plane, passengers and luggage were thoroughly inspected and nothing suspicious was found.

The airport and airline said that the pilot wished to resume the flight and the plane took off again in the afternoon without one passenger who didn't want to continue.

Rajesh Roy reported from New Delhi, and Aijaz Hussain from Srinagar. Jintamas Saksornchai in Bangkok, Piyush Nagpal in Ahmedabad, India, and Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska contributed to this report.

Parts of an Air India plane that crashed on Thursday are seen on top of a building in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

A relative of a victim of the Air India plane crash is comforted as she breaks down at a hospital in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

This handout photo issued by the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs shows Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah meeting British plane crash survivor Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, at a hospital in Ahmedabad, after Air India confirmed Mr Ramesh was the sole survivor of the 242 people on board the London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner when it crashed into a medical college shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad airport. (Ministry of Home Affairs India via AP)

Security personnel patrol the site of an Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Grieving relatives of Air India plane crash victims mourn outside the autopsy room at a hospital in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Parts of an Air India plane that crashed on Thursday are seen on top of a building in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Health workers and volunteers carry the body of a victim of an airplane that crashed in India's northwestern city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat state, on Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

Family members wait at a hospital for the body of a relative killed in an airplane crash on Thursday in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

Kalpesh Bhai, whose 14-year-old brother was killed when an Air India plane crashed into a neighborhood, wails outside the autopsy room at a hospital in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Volunteers and hospital staff carry a casket with a victim of the Air India plane crash out of the autopsy room at a hospital in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Policemen secure the site of an airplane crash in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France (AP) — Right after his 80th birthday party celebrations, U.S. President Donald Trump is heading to a summit in France of the G7 club of powerful democracies to dive into issues — Iran, Ukraine, trade and more — that have been sources of friction with allies he will be meeting.

Hours before leaving Washington, Trump announced an agreement to end the war — a development that could change the dynamic for the G7 leaders during the talks from late Monday to Wednesday.

Just days ago, when the Iran-U.S. ceasefire was hanging by a thread, with resumed strikes, the gathering on the shores of Europe’s largest Alpine lake appeared headed for stormy waters.

Analysts speculated that tempers could flare and that Trump might not stick around for long in Evian-les-Bains, the Alpine spa town that's been enveloped in a security bubble for the G7 leaders and guests also invited by French President Emmanuel Macron, the host.

Aside from France and the U.S., the other G7 nations are Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom.

Here's what to know about their latest annual summit:

Shared values and interests, leaders' personal chemistry and the informality of G7 gatherings — the club first came together in 1975 to brainstorm fixes for the ailing global economy — have facilitated discussion at previous meetings.

“Many of the great G7 summit initiatives have come from leaders’ spontaneous combustion, created by them on the spot, based on free, unrestricted dialogue about the values, memories and even the sports, like baseball, that they share,” said John Kirton, a G7 specialist at the University of Toronto.

But Trump’s relationships with European allies have been fraught even before he launched the Iran war with Israel in February without consulting them. The Evian gathering is their first get-together since then.

Allies that Trump berated for refusing to join the war are likely to greet any Iran deal with relief if it reopens the Strait of Hormuz and enables Persian Gulf energy exports to flow freely again.

As host, Macron has packed the meatiest and potentially most contentious topics into the summit’s first 24 hours, including the Iran war and its impact on energy supplies and the Ukraine war that’s largely slipped down the White House's list of top priorities.

Tuesday's morning session on Ukraine will afford invited guest President Volodymyr Zelenskyy an opportunity to showcase progress that Ukrainian forces are making against the Russian invasion. If Zelenskyy is able to convince Trump that Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot achieve his aims in the war militarily, he might perhaps also be able to persuade him that Putin should be pushed to the negotiating table.

After his Oval Office thrashing by Trump and Vice President JD Vance last year, Zelenskyy now has "a significantly stronger hand,” said Maria Snegovaya, a Russia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, D.C., think tank.

The Trump administration “does tend to look more favorably at those states that have certain positions of power tilting in their favor,” she said.

A lunch meeting Tuesday on the Middle East could go any number of ways. The U.S.-Iran deal is expected to be signed on Friday, followed by technical talks on details over the next 60 days. Trump will be pressed for more information about the terms of the agreement.

If it reopens the Strait of Hormuz, France and Britain are expected to make the case that they could help rid the narrow waterway of any mines and escort tankers through it. They have been working on such plans with other nations but have been waiting for a stable ceasefire to launch the mission.

G7 leaders are also expected to talk about developing other energy supply routes out of the Gulf, including via Egypt. The Egyptian president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, as well as Qatar’s ruling emir and the United Arab Emirates' president will join those talks. Trump is also meeting with each of those regional leaders privately during the summit.

China, not a G7 member, is expected to be a focus of economic talks on Wednesday. G7 nations are concerned that China is flooding export markets with subsidized products, unfairly out-competing their own industries and destroying jobs. China's economy dwarfs those of all G7 nations except the United States.

Discussions are also scheduled on artificial intelligence, including how to protect young people online, and how to economically aid developing countries.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are attending some of the summit. So, too, are the leaders of South Korea and Kenya.

The G7 countries take turns hosting and organizing activities. France inherited the G7 presidency from Canada, last year’s summit host, and will pass it to the U.S. in 2027.

The club's first summit, in Rambouillet, France, in 1975, brought together the leaders of six nations — France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. — for brainstorming on how to speed their recovery from the sharpest economic slump since World War II. Canada joined the following year, making the G7.

No G7 leader has ever skipped an annual summit, a perfect attendance record for more than 50 years, said Kirton, the University of Toronto specialist.

Membership has always been limited to democracies, enabling Russia to join as a fledgling democracy in 1998 but ruling out Communist Party-ruled China.

The club has broken off with Russia since 2014, when Putin seized Crimea from Ukraine, foreshadowing the full-scale war now raging since 2022.

Associated Press writers Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed.

Oxfam's satirical 'big heads' of the G7 leaders depicting French President Emmanuel Macron, left, and U.S. President Donald Trump pose, in Evian-les-Bains, France, Sunday, June 14, 2026, ahead of the G7 summit scheduled to take place in France June 15-17. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, and French President Emmanuel Macron attend an Indian education and ecosystem event in Nice, southern France, Sunday, June 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly, Pool)

Oxfam's satirical 'big heads' of the G7 leaders pose, in Evian-les-Bains, France, Sunday, June 14, 2026, ahead of the G7 summit scheduled to take place in France June 15-17. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)