"Anything We Can Do, We Will Do": Trump On Ahmedabad Plane Crash
Washington DC:
US President Donald Trump spoke about the tragic plane crash in India on Thursday, offering any support the United States can provide as investigations are under way to ascertain what the reasons were that led to the incident.
"It was a horrible accident. Anything we can do, we will do," President Trump said at a press conference in Washington DC.
An Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner carrying 242 people crashed immediately after take-off from Ahmedabad airport this afternoon, in one of the worst-ever aviation tragedies in history. There were 232 passengers and 10 crew on the flight which was headed to London.
'LOOKED LIKE THE ENGINES MAYBE LOST POWER'
"The plane crash was terrible. I've already told them that anything we can do, we will do (to help). India is a big country, a strong country, and they will handle it, I'm sure, but I let them know that anything the US can do, we'll be over immediately," President Trump said.
"It was a horrific crash, and it looks like most are gone. We're hearing that there may be a couple of survivors. The crash was horrible and nobody knows what exactly happened. I gave them a couple of pointers, saying, 'maybe you'd want to look at this'. We saw the plane - it looked like it was flying pretty well...it didn't look that there was any explosion (on board). Just looked like the engines maybe lost power, but boy, that was a terrible crash - looks like the worst in aviation history," he added.
WORRY MOUNTS FOR BOEING
Today's plane crash adds to American aviation company Boeing's concerns, since it is already facing global challenges following a series of safety and production challenges. Its new CEO has been trying to rebuild trust since he took over, but today's Dreamliner 787-8 crash, and the manner in which it went down has left Boeing without answers.
For the time being, there is no clarity on what may have caused the crash. Air disasters can occur for a number of different reasons, and only an investigation will reveal what happened on the Ahmedabad-London flight.
Boeing's stock price went down about 4.9 per cent shortly after the Dreamliner crash on Thursday. In a statement later in the day, Boeing said it was aware of the initial reports about the crash and was working to gather more information.
Shares of Spirit AeroSystems, a key supplier, and GE Aerospace, which makes engines for the jet, also fell about 2 per cent each.
According to news agency Reuters, the wide-body 787 planes, one of the most modern passenger aircraft in service, have never had a fatal crash until the Air India incident. They were grounded in 2013 due to battery issues, but no one was reported injured. Boeing's narrow-body 737 MAX jets, however, were grounded for years following two fatal crashes and have faced years of scrutiny and production delays.
Last year, the American planemaker came under renewed scrutiny after a door plug blew off a 737 MAX 9 mid-flight, prompting a temporary grounding by US' aviation body and fresh concerns over quality control.
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