The New York Times reported that a senior police official in Ahmedabad said 269 bodies had been brought to the main hospital. The official, Vishakha Dabral, cautioned that the exact toll might change after DNA testing.

Rescue personnel at the crash site, as well as doctors and security officials, said that as many as three dozen people caught in the path of the crashing plane might have been killed, the Times reported.

Officials initially believed there were no survivors from the plane, but Indian authorities later confirmed that Ramesh Viswashkumar– seated in 11A – survived the crash and was being treated in hospital.

The British national from London who had been visiting family in India, told reporters from his hospital bed:“Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly.”

He later told the Hindustan Times: “When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me.”

Footage filmed shortly after the crash showed the bloodied man limping down the street towards an ambulance. Indian outlets also shared an image of his boarding pass, confirming his seat and identity.

Indian Home Minister Amit Shah confirmed that a single passenger survived the crash and he met him at the hospital. A doctor said he had examined the survivor.

“He was disoriented with multiple injuries all over his body,” Dr Dhaval Gameti told The Associated Press. “But he seems to be out of danger.”

Speaking from Leicester, Ramesh’s brother Nayan revealed harrowing details of a phone call made just moments before plane crashed. But he said another brother remain unaccounted for.

He told Sky News that their father had been speaking to Ramesh while the plane was still on the runway.

“My dad called him,” Nayan said. “And Vishwash told him, ‘Oh, we’re going to take off soon’.“ Just two minutes later, their father’s phone rang again – this time it was a video call from Ramesh.

“He video-called my dad as he crashed and said ‘Oh the plane’s crashed. I don’t know where my brother is. I don’t see any other passengers. I don’t know how I’m alive, how I exited the plane’,” Nayan said.

His survival offers a rare glimmer of hope in an otherwise devastating tragedy, though officials have warned it is still too early to confirm a final death toll or rule out the possibility of other survivors.

A Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said its High Commission in New Delhi and Consulate-General in Mumbai were urgently following up with the local authorities to determine whether there were any dual Australians citizens or residents on board.

Emergency services were continuing recovery efforts at the site, which includes the remains of the aircraft embedded in the medical college in Meghani Nagar, a densely populated area of Ahmedabad, the largest city in Gujarat state.

As investigators combed through the wreckage and hospital staff work to identify victims, authorities warned that details remained unclear, and that it may take days to confirm the identities of all those on board.

Outside the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad, grief-stricken relatives have gathered in desperation, searching for any word about missing loved ones. One man, clutching a copy of the flight manifest, broke down at the gates: “My sister and brother-in-law were on the flight. Their seats 110 and 111 were confirmed. We’ve lost our family.”

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The flight took off at 1.39pm local time (6:09 pm Thursday AEST) from runway 23 at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. According to air traffic control, the pilots issued a mayday call moments into the flight, but contact was lost shortly thereafter.

The aircraft reached an altitude of just 400 feet before it crashed into a building that housed a doctors’ hostel. Mobile phone footage showed the jet flying unusually low before it slammed into the structure and burst into flames. Eyewitnesses described scenes of chaos, with black smoke billowing across the city.

Resident Raju Prajapati told the London Telegraph: “We heard a huge explosion and rushed out of our homes. There were thick plumes of black smoke rising into the sky. People were shouting and running in all directions.”

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The cause of the crash was unclear; Boeing has been involved in a series of incidents in recent years, including fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019, but the Dreamliner has never crashed in 14 years of service. The aircraft’s pilot, Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, was said to be highly experienced, having flown more than 8200 flight hours.

Investigators are now focused on potential mechanical failure, with aviation lawyer Robert A. Clifford suggesting early evidence pointed to a possible loss of power or flight control. India’s Civil Aviation Ministry confirmed the flight data and cockpit voice recorders had been located and would be examined in the coming days.

In response to the tragedy, the British Foreign Office announced that a team of civil servants would be dispatched to Ahmedabad to assist with the recovery and support the families of victims. A reception centre has also been established at London Gatwick, where the plane was due to land at 6.25pm BST.

India’s worst air disaster was in November 1996, when a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight collided midair with a Kazakhstan Airlines flight near Charkhi Dadri in Haryana state, killing all 349 on board the two planes.

Fifty-four British citizens died when Pan Am flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie en route to the US in 1988. Ten Britons were killed in the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, when a Russian-supplied missile, fired by rebel, struck the aircraft over eastern Ukraine.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the crash had “stunned and saddened” the country.

“It is heartbreaking beyond words,” he wrote on X. “In this sad hour, my thoughts are with everyone affected,” Modi said in a social media post.

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described the crash as “devastating”.

“I am being kept updated as the situation develops, and my thoughts are with the passengers and their families at this deeply distressing time,” he said.