Eight B787 aircraft inspected after Air India crash: Aviation minister
New Delhi: Eight out of the total 34 B787 fleet have already been inspected, civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu said on Saturday while addressing the media on the Air India flight that crashed on Thursday.
'As per extended surveillance ordered by the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) on Friday, eight of the total 34 B787 have already been inspected,' Naidu said.
The minister did not elaborate on the findings of the surveillance. However, people familiar with the matter said that there were no issues found in the eight inspected 787s.
Naidu also said that the black box was recovered at around 5pm on Friday. People familiar with the matter said that it's the flight data recorder (FDR) of the black box that was found on Friday and the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) is yet to be found.
To be sure, Air India had 34 B787 in its fleet before the crash. IndiGo has a B787-9 aircraft but with a foreign registration.
241 out of the total 242 people (230 passengers and 12 crew members) were killed when an Air India Boeing 787-8 dreamliner from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick crashed moments after taking off on Thursday afternoon, marking the worst air tragedy in the country in three decades.
Officials said at least 50 people were injured in the medical college hostel where the jet rammed into as it turned into a fireball.
Samir Kumar Sinha, civil aviation secretary, said, 'Air India B787-8 aircraft flew to Paris-Delhi, and Delhi- Ahmedabad route without any issues before the crash,'
'The crash happened at 1.40pm and a team of DGCA, BCAS (Bureau of Civil Aviation Security), AAI (Airports Authority of India), CISF (Central Industrial Security Force) and myself reached the crash site around 6pm until when the fire was doused by the local authorities,' Sinha said.
The government at around 12.40am on Saturday issued an order stating that a high-level multi disciplinary committee headed by home secretary. THe committee will also have heads from DGCA and BCAS, secretary of civil aviation, representative from the Gujarat home department, representative from the state disaster response authority, police commissioner of Ahmedabad, the director general (DG), Inspection and Safety of the Indian Air Force, special director of Intelligence Bureau (IB), and director of the Directorate of Forensic Science Services.
Naidu said that the committee would have a 'holistic' approach. He, however, did not elaborate on the progress of the investigation.
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