
Air India's chairman promises to be transparent about reasons behind Flight AI-171's crash
NEW DELHI: Tata Sons and Air India's chairman N Chandrasekaran said on Friday that they will be completely transparent about what led to the fatal Ahmedabad-London flight crash, which killed 241 of the 242 onboard on Thursday.
Chandrasekaran also termed the crash as one of the darkest days in the Mumbai-headquartered Tata Group's history.
The Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner (flight Al171) carrying 242 passengers and crew had crashed almost immediately after takeoff from Ahmedabad Airport on Thursday afternoon.
'I want to say that, like you, we want to understand what happened. We don't know right now, but we will. You know that in the past 24 hours, investigative teams from India, UK, and the US have arrived in Ahmedabad to investigate the crash. They have our full cooperation, and we will be completely transparent about the findings.
"We owe it to the families and loved ones, to our pilots and crew, and to you. The Tata Group takes its responsibility to society seriously, and that includes being open about what occurred yesterday,' the airline Chairman said.
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India Today
36 minutes ago
- India Today
A sea full of troubles for Kerala
(NOTE: This article was originally published in the India Today issue dated June 23, 2025)In the span of just two weeks, Kerala's 600-kilometre shoreline—a ribbon of emerald backwaters and bustling fishing hamlets—has been rattled by two catastrophic maritime mishaps involving cargo ships, sending shockwaves through its coastal communities and unfurling environmental red first blow came on May 25, when the Liberian-flagged MSC Elsa 3, a hulking vessel carrying 643 containers, succumbed to a suspected mechanical failure and sank 14.6 nautical miles off the Thottappally coast. The ship, sailing between the Vizhinjam and Kochi ports, had 24 crew members, rescued well in time. But the real trouble lay beneath the waves: several containers of hazardous cargo, now submerged or bobbing ashore in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Alappuzha. Salvage crews are still racing to prevent the ship's fuel tanks from leaking oil, but the greater menace may be the plastic nurdles—tiny, insidious pellets used in plastic manufacturing—scattered across the water, a synthetic blizzard in the middle of fish-breeding Kerala's coast was still catching its breath, the sea had other plans. On June 9, the Singapore-registered MV Wan Hai 503, a floating warehouse of 650 containers, erupted in flames and explosions further north, 43 nautical miles off the Azhikkal coast. The ship, bound from Colombo to Mumbai, had 22 crew members. Four are missing and two of the 18 rescued have severe burns. Five coast guard ships and the navy's INS Surat were deployed, but the fire, fed by volatile cargo—nitrocellulose, benzophenone, magnesium, turpentine, ethanol—proved a stubborn adversary. Adding to the peril, the vessel's 2,000 tonnes of marine oil and 240 tonnes of diesel sit precariously close to 32 tonnes of alcohol, making for a lethally inflammable cocktail. 'Our priority is to carry out salvage operations and minimise the oil spill. The task is very challenging,' says Commander Atul Pillai, defence PRO for Kerala and AFTER THE WRECKBack in Kochi, the bureaucratic machinery has lurched into motion. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has set up two high-level committees—one at the state level and another at the district level—to coordinate relief and environmental assessments. 'The state has taken all necessary precautions [to contain] maritime casualties and is conducting environmental and social impact studies on the Kerala coast,' says chief secretary A. Jayathilak. 'Now, our priority is to assess [immediate] losses and extend relief to the affected coastal communities.' The state, after some foot-dragging, has also filed a criminal case against Mediterranean Shipping Company, the Geneva-headquartered operator of the MSC Elsa 3. With the southwest monsoon back at orange alert levels and a statewide trawling ban in effect since June 10, the dual disasters have dealt a double blow to Kerala's 1.13 million-strong fishing community. 'These shipwrecks have compounded the fisherfolk's hardships,' says T.J. Anjalose, state president of the All India Trade Union Congress. 'They are finding more plastic than fish. The state must compensate them for the losses and press for a thorough investigation by the Directorate General of Shipping.'The predominantly fish-eating state is also increasingly concerned about the toxic pollution washing up along its once-pristine coastlines. Dr Anu Gopinath, head of the aquatic environment management department at Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS) in Kochi, has warned of serious long-term consequences. 'We must conduct detailed monitoring on the impact of the shipwrecks. The Wan Hai vessel has tonnes of inflammable and toxic substances, including pesticides, that may threaten aquatic ecosystems with far-reaching and serious consequences,' she says. The Kochi-based Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), initially tasked with investigating coastal pollution after the MSC Elsa 3 wreck, has now begun collecting seawater samples near the Wan Hai mishap site as well to detect the presence of harmful chemicals. As salvage crews toil against time and tide, Kerala finds itself at an inflection point. V.J. Mathew, former chairman of the Kerala Maritime Board, argues that with the Vizhinjam port expanding, the state needs a permanent maritime monitoring system and tougher legal mechanisms. 'Shipping companies must be held accountable,' he says. The immediate crisis will fade, as all crises do. But without urgent reforms—stricter regulations and enforcement for hazardous cargo movement and long-term ecological surveillance—Kerala's fragile marine habitats, and the lives that depend on them, may be doomed to relive these disasters, again and to India Today MagazineTune InMust Watch


Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Ahmedabad plane crash victims' families demand 'full bodies' after 2 heads found in one body bag
As authorities begin to hand over the remains of the Ahmedabad plane crash victims, grieving families have reportedly called for the release of the full remaiins of bodies of the victims. A total of 270 bodies were brought to the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad after the deadly Air India plane crash on Thursday. Of the 270 bodies, 241 were passengers and cabin crew on the London-bound flight. The remaining were killed when the plane crashed into a hostel of BJ Medical College. Families of the plane crash victims have pled with authorities to release the full remains of their family members, as opposed to parts, according to a TOI report. On Saturday, a man was seen pleading before the officials to hand over all the remains of his family members for the last rites, but he was told that this was an improbable task, the report said. 'It was hard to convince him,' an official was quoted as saying. Families of the crash victims continue to throng outside the Civil Hospital's mortuary as authorities carry out DNA tests. As per additional medical superintendent of BJ Medical College, Rajnish Patel, a total of 32 bodies have been recognised through the DNA sampling process and 12 bodies have been handed over to the families. Of this, Patil added that eight bodies were handed over to the families as no DNA testing for required for indication. However, as the process continues, it has drawn hurdles as well. As reported by TOI, in a peculiar case, a repeat DNA sampling will be done after a family member of a victim found two heads inside one body bag. "This will require the DNA sampling process to be repeated as the parts belong to two victims and shouldn't be in the same bag,' the report quoted a senior official at the Civil Hospital. The Air India plane crash of Thursday marked the first fatal crash for a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft. The plane, which was bound for London's Gatwick airport, crashed shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad's Sardar Patel Vallabhbhai International Airport. The Ahmedabad plane crash has also sparked a multi-national investigation into the incident with experts from US and UK flying in to assess the situation. The flight, carrying 242 passengers and cabin crew, crashed into BJ Medical College's student hostel. Of the 242 people on board, a 40-year-old Indian-origin British national is the sole survivor of the plane crash.


Mint
an hour ago
- Mint
In Air India crash, canteen worker hopes for second miracle
By Sudipto Ganguly and Sumit Khanna AHMEDABAD, India, June 15 (Reuters) - Around 30 minutes before an Air India jet crashed into a college hostel in India, Ravi Thakor, the cook in the hostel canteen, and his wife stepped out to deliver lunchboxes - leaving behind their two-year-old daughter and his mother. The grandmother and child are missing. Thakor is hoping for what he calls a "second miracle", one like the astonishing survival of the sole passenger among the 242 people on board the plane. Thakor said he first thought the loud bang he heard when the plane crashed on Thursday in the western city of Ahmedabad was a gas cylinder blast, but soon noticed the building he had just left was engulfed in flames. For days, he's been searching for his mother and his daughter at hospitals and the morgue to no avail. Police told Reuters they were treating it as a missing persons case. "If one of the plane passengers could survive the crash, there could be a second miracle and my mother and daughter could also be safe," a visibly distraught Thakor told Reuters outside one of the hospitals. His wife Lalita stood beside him, stone-faced. "We realise that the chances of finding them alive are bleak but we have not given up hope," Thakor said. In all, at least 271 people died in the crash - the 241 passengers and crew in the plane, and the rest people on the ground, mostly in the hostel building. Thakor and his wife have given samples of their DNA to hospital authorities but they are yet to hear if any matches have been found among the deceased. Families of victims have been waiting to take posession of their loved ones' remains for days as DNA profiling and other identification checks are taking time. The hospital's additional superintendent, Rajnish Patel, said on Sunday DNA samples of only 32 deceased have been matched so far. When the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner jet struck the hostel canteen on Thursday, many students were eating lunch. Steel tumblers and plates still containing food lay on the few tables that were left intact when Reuters visited the site later. Thakor's mother was still cooking when he and his wife left the hostel that day to deliver lunchboxes and he had just rocked rocked his daugher to sleep on a wooden swing, he said. "It is possible someone took away my daughter in the chaos that followed," he said.