Footage shows fire crews dousing the wreckage of an Air India plane that crashed today.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner had left at 1:17 pm and was due to land at Gatwick Airport at 6 pm local time. But just minutes into flight AI171, the aircraft lost altitude and descended into a residential area.

Local media reported that the jet collided with a hospital building, then landed on the sleeping quarters of the BJ Medical College and Civil Hospital.

Footage captured the plane exploding in a fireball, followed by thick clouds of smoke. Hundreds of frantic locals gathered around the mangled fuselage of the doomed flag carrier.

Wheels and fragments of the fuselage were scattered across the ground, along with bodies that were incinerated in the blaze.

The crash happened a short distance from the Ahmedabad Airport, or officially the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, in the Meghani Nagar area of Gujarat. Smoke was seen rising from the site as the emergency services secured the area.