Officials said they had found the cockpit voice recorder that may provide crucial clues about what caused the Air India flight to crash, killing at least 270 people.

Navin Chaudhary had just begun eating his meal when a loud bang startled him. He turned back to see a massive fire taking over the dining area where he and other trainee doctors had assembled for lunch.

Investigators have recovered the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) from the crashed Air India flight, a key step in uncovering what caused last week's deadly accident.

The Air India flight fell from the sky on Thursday and killed at least 270 people in Gujarat state, officials said Saturday.

Air India's Chairman N. Chandrasekaran on Monday told staff that last week's plane crash that killed at least 271 people should be a catalyst to build a safer airline, urging employees to stay resolute amid any criticism.

Colleagues of a beautician who was killed in the Air India plane crash have said she brought "kindness to every moment". Abdhi Patel, 40, was flying back to the UK after visiting her elderly mother when flight A1171 crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad on Thursday.

The London-bound Boeing 787 struck a student doctor's hostel in a residential area of the Indian city of Ahmedabad minutes after takeoff on Thursday, killing 241 people on board and at least 29 on the ground.