When news broke that a London-bound plane carrying 242 passengers and crew had crashed shortly after takeoff, Ahmedabad-based photographer Ajit Solanki rushed to the scene.
His first dramatic photos and video—showing scattered debris near a charred hostel—put AP ahead in a fiercely competitive breaking news environment. Solanki’s striking visuals were delivered an hour ahead of Reuters and AFP, with crucial support from AP’s photo editing team.
Seamless coordination across AP’s global text team ensured fast-moving developments were captured in real time. On the video front, by day’s end, two videojournalists from Delhi were livestreaming and producing video edits from the crash site in Ahmedabad. AP had also secured and verified user-generated content, as well as CCTV footage showing the plane’s takeoff and crash.
Comprehensive coverage included not just breaking news updates, but also visual galleries, explainers and graphics that helped global audiences understand and contextualize one of India’s deadliest aviation disasters.
Judges praised the speed, depth, and visual strength of AP’s response, which dominated international coverage of the crash.
For producing the defining images of the disaster and leading across all formats, Ajit Solanki is this week’s Best of AP — First Winner.
Related articles
