“Thrust not achieved”, “falling”, “communication line during this transmission very weak”, “Mayday” – these were the final messages sent by the Air India pilot to the Air Traffic Control (ATC) at Ahmedabad airport as the London-bound flight crashed into a medical hostel minutes after takeoff, sources told India Today TV.

The nature of the messages sent by the Air India pilot to the ATC signified that something had gone wrong with the aircraft after Flight AI171 went down after it took off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at 1.37 pm on Thursday.

The ill-fated flight, headed for London’s Gatwick airport, carried 242 people – 230 passengers, two pilots and 10 crew members – and killed 241 of them and left just one survivor, a British national of Indian-origin, who is hospitalised.

The crash involving the Air India plane, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, marked the first fatal accident involving a 787 since its commercial debut in 2011. The tragedy has so far claimed 270 lives.

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), which investigates aircraft accidents and incidents, recovered the Air India plane’s black box 28 hours after the tragedy, Union Minister of Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu said on Friday.

The orange-coloured device that was located near the tail of a plane will help investigate the crash.

Following the crash, all planes under the Boeing 787-8/9 fleet of Air India will undergo an enhanced safety inspection starting Sunday, the Civil Aviation Ministry has announced.

Fuel, engine and hydraulic systems monitoring are among the advanced checks ordered by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which will seek a report of the checks for review.

Earlier today, Naidu, in his first briefing after the Air India flight crash in Ahmedabad, said the black box data from the ill-fated aircraft was being decoded, while multiple agencies and high-level panels are conducting an extensive probe into the tragedy.