An Air India plane bound for London with 242 people on board crashed minutes after take-off from India's western city of Ahmedabad on Thursday.
According to Reuters, India's federal health minister said that "many people" were killed but did not reveal the exact figures.
Police officers said it crashed in a civilian area near the airport.
"The building on which it has crashed is a doctors' hostel... we have cleared almost 70% to 80% of the area and will clear the rest soon," Reuters quoted a senior police officer as saying.
AFP, citing officials, confirmed that Air India's flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which was bound for London Gatwick crashed shortly after takeoff.
India's aviation minister said he was "shocked and devastated" by the crash in Ahmedabad, where an AFP journalist saw thick plumes of black smoke over the airport.
India's civil aviation authority said "there were 242 person on board" including two pilots and 10 cabin crew.
The Air India plane issued a mayday call and "crashed immediately after takeoff", AFP quoted the Directorate General of Civil Aviation as saying.
Ahmedabad, the main city of India's Gujarat state, is home of around eight million people, and the busy airport is surrounded by densely packed residential areas.
AFP further reported that aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu directed "all aviation and emergency response agencies to take swift and coordinated action."
"Rescue teams have been mobilised, and all efforts are being made to ensure medical aid and relief support are being rushed to the site," he added.
"My thoughts and prayers are with all those on board and their families."
According to AFP, India has suffered a series of fatal air crashes, including a 1996 disaster when two jets collided mid-air over New Delhi, killing nearly 350 people.
In 2010 an Air India Express jet crashed and burst into flames at Mangalore airport in southwest India, killing 158 of the 166 passengers and crew on board, added the Paris-based international news agency.
“Decades earlier, an Air India Boeing 747 flying from Montreal to London in June 1985 crashed into the sea off Ireland with 329 people on board and leaving no survivors. An Indian commission determined that militant Sikhs had planted a bomb in baggage being carried by the plane.”
–Updated news with inputs from Reuters and AFP.
