"The scenes emerging of a London-bound plane carrying many British nationals crashing in the Indian city of Ahmedabad are devastating," Starmer said in a statement issued by his Downing Street office.

"My thoughts are with the passengers and their families at this deeply distressing time."

Air India said the 242 passengers and crew on board the Boeing 787-8 included 53 British nationals, 169 Indian passengers, seven Portuguese, and a Canadian. Two pilots and 10 cabin crew were also aboard.

UK foreign minister David Lammy wrote on X that he was "deeply saddened by news of a devastating plane crash in Ahmedabad".

"My thoughts are with all those affected," he added. "The UK is working with local authorities in India to urgently establish the facts and provide support."

Buckingham Palace said King Charles III was being kept updated on the accident, while Conservative leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch called the news "heartbreaking".

Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday he was shocked by the crash of the London-bound passenger plane and offered his support to those affected.

"The tragedy in Ahmedabad has stunned and saddened us. It is heartbreaking beyond words," Modi said in a message posted on social media site X after the Air India flight crashed near the city in western India.

"In this sad hour, my thoughts are with everyone affected by it," he said, adding he had "been in touch with ministers and authorities who are working to assist those affected".

Thick black plumes of acrid smoke towered high above India's Ahmedabad airport after a London-bound passenger jet crashed shortly after takeoff on Thursday.

Several videos posted on social media, which AFP was not able to immediately verify, showed an aircraft rapidly losing altitude -- with its nose up -- before it hit a building and exploded into an orange ball of fire.

An AFP reporter in the city said the plane crashed in an area between a hospital and the city's Ghoda Camp neighbourhood.

Authorities said it went down outside the airport perimeter, in a crowded residential area, which local media said included a hostel where medical students and young doctors live.

"When we reached the spot there were several bodies lying around and firefighters were dousing the flames," Poonam Patni told AFP.

"Many of the bodies were burned."

Another resident, who declined to be named, said: "We saw people from the building jumping from the second and third floor to save themselves. The plane was in flames.

"We helped people get out of the building and sent the injured to the hospital."

Air India's flight 171 -- a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for London's Gatwick Airport, crashed shortly after takeoff around 1:40 pm (0810 GMT), officials said.

'Massive sound' 
 

At the crash site, firefighters could be seen trying to control flames on the burning plane debris that also charred trees.

One video, from social media but posted by the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency, showed what appeared to be a chunk of fuselage -- larger than a car -- that had smashed onto the roof of a multi-storey building.

Photographs released by India's Central Industrial Security Force, a paramilitary police force, showed a large chunk of the plane that had smashed through the brick and concrete wall of a building.

"I was at home when we heard a massive sound," one Ahmedabad resident told PTI.

"When we went out to see what had happened, there was a layer of thick smoke in the air. When we came here, dead bodies and debris from the crashed aircraft were scattered all over."

Outside Ahmedabad airport, a woman wailing inconsolably in grief said that five of her relatives had been aboard the plane.

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