New Delhi, June 12 -- Former India cricketers Yusuf Pathan and Harbhajan Singh were the first from the sporting fraternity to express condolences after an London-bound Air India passenger plane with 244 people onboard crashed Thursday in India's northwestern city of Ahmedabad.

Visuals on local television channels showed smoke billowing from the crash site near the airport in Ahmedabad. Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, the director general of the directorate of civil aviation, told AP that Air India flight AI 171, a Boeing 787-8, crashed into a residential area called Meghani Nagar five minutes after taking off at 1:38 pm local time.

There were 232 passengers and 12 crew members onboard the flight, which had been bound for London's Gatwick Airport, Ki...