Black box from crashed plane being decoded

metro india news  I AHMEDABAD

Union Minister of Civil Aviation Rammohan Naidu Kinjarapu on Saturday said that black box has been recovered from the debris and a high-level multi-disciplinary committee, headed by the Union home secretary, has been formed to examine the causes that led to the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad.

Addressing the media, Union Minister of Civil Aviation Rammohan Naidu Kinjarapu, said the panel will focus on formulating the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for preventing and handling such occurrences in the future, and will publish its report in three months.

The Minister said a surveillance of Air India's Boeing 787 fleet has started as per the direction of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. ‘Of the 34 Dreamliners in India, eight have already undergone inspection.’

‘The black box data is expected to provide crucial information about the cause of the crash. The last two days have been very difficult regarding the aftermath of the horrific crash. In the tragic incident, many people lost their lives, and several were injured,’ said the Minister.  

The Minister said, ‘The accident that happened near Ahmedabad airport shook the entire nation. My deepest condolences to all the families who have lost their loved ones in the incident. I personally rushed to the site to oversee what needs to be done, what support needs to be provided, and that was the attitude of the government of Gujarat also. The attitude was the same from the Government of India and the other people at the ministry also.’

‘Once we rushed to the site, we already saw the response teams from all the concerned departments were working on ground, actively trying to rescue whatever is possible, trying to cut down the fire and to move the debris so that the bodies can be sent to the hospital at the earliest,’ Minister said. Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation Samir Kumar Sinha informed that the flight data recorder of the crashed aircraft was found.

Revealing more about the crash, Samir Kumar Sinha said ‘Plane took off at 1:39 pm and within a few seconds, after reaching a height of about 650 feet, it started sinking, i.e., it started losing height. At 1:39 pm, the pilot informed Ahmedabad ATC that it was a May Day, i.e., full emergency.’

‘According to ATC, when it tried to contact the Air India plane, it did not receive any response. Exactly after 1 minute, this plane crashed in Medhaninagar, which is located at a distance of about 2 km from the airport,’ Sinha said. Before the accident, the plane flew on the route of Paris-Delhi-Ahmedabad without any accident. It had completed its flight successfully.

270 bodies brought to hospital from air crash site

Authorities of the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital have so far identified six victims on the basis of the DNA samples and initiated the process to hand over the bodies to the relatives. Earlier, eight victims, who were identified by their relatives and did not need DNA profiling as their bodies were not damaged, had been handed over to their families by the hospital.

Doctors on Saturday said around 270 bodies have been brought to the hospital from the air crash site so far.

NSG team deployed at AI plane crash site

Apart from central and state government agencies, a team of the National Security Guard (NSG) has been deployed at the site of the Air India plane crash.According to official sources, the NSG team is at the site to assist other agencies in relief operations, and they do not have any investigative powers.

NSG commandos were seen at the crash site on the hostel building, where the tail of the ill-fated aircraft has been stuck since the crash. Agencies, including the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, DGCA, Ahmedabad crime branch and local police, among others, are involved in the probe into the incident. Sources said officials from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) also visited the crash site in Meghaninagar on Friday.

Hostels damaged in plane crash being vacated for probe

Hostels of the BJ Medical College that were damaged in the Air India plane crash are being vacated as the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AIIB) wants to conduct a probe, the institution's dean, Minakshi Parikh, said on Saturday.