One survivor after London-bound plane with 242 on board crashes in India

Rescue officials carry a victim's body at the site where Air India flight 171 crashed in Ahmedabad. [Sam Panthaky, AFP]

A London-bound passenger plane crashed in the Indian city of Ahmedabad on Thursday leaving one known survivor from 242 on board, with the jet smashing into buildings housing doctors and their families.

An AFP journalist saw bodies being recovered from the crash site, and the back of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner hanging over the edge of a building it hit around lunchtime.

"The tragedy in Ahmedabad has stunned and saddened us. It is heartbreaking beyond words," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after Air India's flight 171 crashed following takeoff.

The bodies of passengers and victims on the ground were among 204 recovered so far, city police commissioner GS Malik said, while medics were treating dozens who were injured in the city.

While everyone aboard the flight was initially feared killed, state health official Dhananjay Dwivedi told AFP "one survivor is confirmed" and had been hospitalised.

The AFP journalist saw a building ablaze after the crash, with thick black smoke billowing into the air, and a section of the plane on the ground.

A London-bound passenger plane crashed in the Indian city of Ahmedabad on Thursday leaving one known survivor from 242 on board, with the jet smashing into buildings housing doctors and their families.

An AFP journalist saw bodies being recovered from the crash site, and the back of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner hanging over the edge of a building it hit around lunchtime.

"The tragedy in Ahmedabad has stunned and saddened us. It is heartbreaking beyond words," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after Air India's flight 171 crashed following takeoff.

The bodies of passengers and victims on the ground were among 204 recovered so far, city police commissioner GS Malik said, while medics were treating dozens who were injured in the city.

While everyone aboard the flight was initially feared killed, state health official Dhananjay Dwivedi told AFP "one survivor is confirmed" and had been hospitalised.

The AFP journalist saw a building ablaze after the crash, with thick black smoke billowing into the air, and a section of the plane on the ground.

"One half of the plane crashed into the residential building where doctors lived with their families," said Krishna, a doctor who did not give his full name.

"The nose and front wheel landed on the canteen building where students were having lunch," he said.

Krishna said he saw "about 15 to 20 burnt bodies", while he and his colleagues rescued around 15 students.

India's civil aviation authority said there were 242 people aboard, including two pilots and 10 cabin crew.

Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese, and a Canadian on board the flight bound for London's Gatwick airport.