New Delhi: A high-level panel has been set up to investigate the causes of the Ahmedabad plane crash and the investigation is progressing smoothly, the government said on Saturday.
The black box of Air India’s Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane that crashed on Thursday was recovered from the site on Friday evening.
“Decoding of the black box is going to give in-depth insight into what happened moments before the plane crash,” Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said at a briefing in the national capital.
Air India’s Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, operating a flight from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, crashed soon after the take-off on Thursday afternoon. Out of the 242 people on board the plane, only one person survived.
The minister said the country has very strict aviation safety standards and robust protocols, and everything will be done to further improve safety.
“Any theory going around the plane crash will be analysed,” he added.
A high-level multi-disciplinary panel, chaired by the home secretary, will hold a meeting on Monday, and the committee is expected to submit its report in three months.
Civil Aviation Secretary Samir Kumar Sinha said the investigation is going on smoothly into the Air India plane crash.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is probing the crash.
Before the press conference, a one-minute silence was observed to pay homage to the victims of the Air India plane crash.
He said that DNA testing is happening to identify victims and hand them over to their families.
“The Gujarat government is coordinating with that. They have been there on the ground since the time of the crash and they have been facilitating all the efforts and measures that are required from their side, so once the DNA testing is confirmed, the bodies will be given to the respective families,” the minister said.
“We are hoping that the process also gets (completed) as soon as possible,” Naidu added.
“We have very strict safety standards in the country also, and many, including the ICAO, international organisations have also time and again established that we do have a very strict protocol, robust protocol which we follow every time.”
But even after that, when the incident happened, we also felt that there is a need to do an extended surveillance into the Boeing 787 series, Naidu said, adding, “So, through the DGCA, we have also given the order to do the extended surveillance for the 787 planes”.
There are 34 (before the crash) Boeing 787-8 in the Indian aircraft fleet today and “I believe that eight have already been inspected,” the minister said.
He said that whatever necessary steps are needed will be taken to improve the (aviation) safety.
On the formation of the high-level committee, the minister said its composition involves three persons from various backgrounds, and people, who the government feels, can bring a lot of expertise and value to it, will investigate in a holistic way into the incident.
“We have put a time limit of three months for them to sit down, talk to various stakeholders, and involve and discuss with any other important expert that is necessary as part of their investigation,” he noted.
He said the AAIB team believes that “the decoding of the black box is going to give in-depth insight into what would have actually happened during the process of the crash or moments before the crash itself”.
“So, we are also eagerly waiting for the report’s results, ” Naidu said.
We are also eagerly waiting for the report’s results, he added.
Expressing his deepest condolences to all the families who have lost their loved ones in the plane crash in Ahmedabad, Naidu said, “…to a certain extent, I can understand the pain and anguish that the family members are feeling”.
“I would like to reiterate that this was a very tragic incident, a very horrific incident for everyone,” he said.
No questions were taken from the media at the briefing.
