00:00A Mayday call echoed from the skies over Ahmedabad on 12 June 2025.
00:04Moments later, Air India flight AI-171, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner en route to London with 242 people
00:11on board, crashed just minutes later after the takeoff. Emergency services raised in as the
00:16cruise urgent signal transformed a routine flight into tragedy. And it all started with a word.
00:21A word that slices through the kiosk. Mayday, Mayday, Mayday.
00:24Here are five global emergency signals that can and often do save lives.
00:29Number one, Mayday, the most serious distress call. It was first introduced in 1923 at the
00:35Creuton Airport in UK. Repeated three times, it instantly commands absolute priority from
00:40all communication channels, telling all frequencies to fall silent and give way.
00:45The most well-known use of this signal was on the US Airways flight in 2009. Captain
00:50Sully Sullenberg declared Mayday before safely landing on the Hudson River in 2009,
00:55saving every soul on board.
00:56Number two, Pan Pan. Less urgent than Mayday, but still serious. Signals an urgent situation,
01:02not yet life-threatening, but needing attention. A failing engine, a sick passenger, or an on-board
01:07technical fault. Swiss Air Flight 111 first declared Pan Pan due to an electrical fire.
01:13Number three, SOS. Three dots, three dashes, three dots. It's easily recognized under Diorist and remains
01:19iconic in maritime rescue. The Titanic's radio operators also used the SOS after hitting an iceberg
01:24in 1912, signaling nearby ships for an emergency rescue.
01:28Number four, CQD. Introduced in 1904 by Marconi as the first radio distress call, CQ means calling
01:35all stations and adding D means distress. Though now obsolete, it once saved countless lives,
01:40including those aboard the SS Republic in 1909.
01:44Number five, security. Often heard in maritime and aviation warnings. Vital for safe operations,
01:49this one's not a distress call, but a safety broadcast. These include weather warnings,
01:54navigation hazards, or emergency drills. It's the calm before any potential storm. And as
01:59investigations into the Air India crash continue, the world is reminded once again of the importance
02:04of these signals that save lives. When lives hang in the balance, these calls become the voice of survival.
