logo
US officials blame Air India captain for crash

US officials blame Air India captain for crash

Express Tribune6 days ago
A cockpit recording of dialogue between the two pilots of the Air India flight that crashed last month supports the view that the captain cut the flow of fuel to the plane's engines, said a source briefed on US officials' early assessment of evidence.
The first officer was at the controls of the Boeing 787 and asked the captain why he moved the fuel switches into a position that starved the engines of fuel and requested that he restore the fuel flow, the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity because the matter remains under investigation.
The US assessment is not contained in a formal document, said the source, who emphasised the cause of the June 12 crash in Ahmedabad, the capital of western Indian state of Gujarat that killed 260 people, remains under investigation.
There was no cockpit video recording definitively showing which pilot flipped the switches, but the weight of evidence from the conversation points to the captain, according to the early assessment. Indian officials said investigation was ongoing and it remained too early to draw definitive conclusions.
India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), which is leading the investigation into the crash, said in a statement on Thursday that "certain sections of the international media are repeatedly attempting to draw conclusions through selective and unverified reporting."
The Wall Street Journal first reported similar information on Wednesday about the world's deadliest aviation accident in a decade. After that the Federation of Indian Pilots sent a legal notice to Reuters about a July 17 story published by the news agency which referenced the WSJ article.
A preliminary report released by the AAIB on Saturday said that one of the two pilots in the cockpit was heard on the voice recorder, asking the other why he cut off the fuel and "the other pilot responded that he did not do so."
The AAIB investigators did not identify which remarks were made by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and which by First Officer Clive Kunder, who had total flying experience of 15,638 hours and 3,403 hours, respectively.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Two killed in panic at temple in India, police say
Two killed in panic at temple in India, police say

Business Recorder

time2 hours ago

  • Business Recorder

Two killed in panic at temple in India, police say

LUCKNOW: At least two people were killed when a crowd panicked after an electric wire snapped outside a temple in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh, authorities said. A group of monkeys jumped onto an electric wire outside the Ausaneshwar Mahadev Temple in the Barabanki region, causing it to snap and fall on a shed, triggering panic, District Magistrate Shashank Tripathi said. 19 people were electrocuted and injured, he said. 'Two people were killed today in a stampede-like situation (at the temple) early in the morning,' a senior police officer, who did not want to be named, told Reuters. The incident occurred around 2 a.m. (2030 GMT Sunday), the area's chief medical officer said, when some people at the temple 'came in contact' with the electric wire, causing panic. Six crushed to death in India temple stampede Accidents involving large crowds are not uncommon at religious gatherings in India, and are often blamed on poor crowd management. At least 30 people were killed in a pre-dawn crowd crush at the Maha Kumbh (Great Pitcher) festival in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj in January, as tens of millions gathered to take a dip in sacred river waters on its most auspicious day. Six people were also killed in a stampede in neighbouring Uttarakhand state's Haridwar on Sunday, where a large crowd gathered to offer prayers at the Mansa Devi temple.

Russia's night attack on Kyiv leaves eight injured, including child, Ukraine says
Russia's night attack on Kyiv leaves eight injured, including child, Ukraine says

Business Recorder

time2 hours ago

  • Business Recorder

Russia's night attack on Kyiv leaves eight injured, including child, Ukraine says

KYIV: A Russian overnight air attack on Kyiv wounded eight residents of an apartment building, including a three-year-old child, authorities in the Ukrainian capital said on Monday. Four of those injured in the attack, which took place soon after midnight on Monday, have been hospitalised, with one person in serious condition, the head of Kyiv's military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, said on the Telegram messaging app. Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that all of the people were residents of a multi-storey apartment building in the city's Darnytskyi district on the left bank of the Dnipro River. 'The blast wave damaged windows from the 6th to the 11th floor,' Klitschko said in a post on Telegram. The capital and most of Ukraine were under air raid alerts for several hours overnight following Ukrainian Air Force warnings of Russian missile and drone attacks. With the threat of missile strikes on western parts of Ukraine that border Poland - a NATO member - Polish armed forces scrambled aircraft to ensure the safety of Polish airspace. The central Ukrainian city of Kropyvnytskyi came under an attack, regional Governor Andriy Raikovych said, adding that emergency services were working on the site and information about potential damage will be released later on Monday. The full scale of the Russian attack on Ukraine was not immediately known. Reuters' witnesses heard loud blasts shaking the city of Kyiv overnight in what sounded like air defence units in operation. There was no comment from Russia on the attack. Both sides deny targeting civilians in their strikes in the war that Russia started in February 2022. But thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian.

Gutka sales continue amidst police complicity
Gutka sales continue amidst police complicity

Express Tribune

time10 hours ago

  • Express Tribune

Gutka sales continue amidst police complicity

For any illegal activity, be it extortion, theft, or drug smuggling, strict enforcement of laws through the police is crucial to delineate the boundary between acceptable and deviant behaviours. However, when the law enforcers themselves are complicit in the crimes, little can be done to fix society. Recently, the Inspector General (IG) Sindh Police issued a circular to all divisional and district police officers, expressing concern over the widespread addiction to gutka among police personnel and instructing the initiation of rehabilitation efforts. The circular called for action against those who failed to comply, including potential dismissal from service. Syed Atif Ali, a resident of New Karachi, felt that the sale of gutka in the city was impossible without the complicity of local police. "Gutka is freely available at shops and paan stalls, and even Indian gutka is sold in the city," said Ali. Gul Muhammad Baloch, a social activist working in Karachi's Baldia Town, opined that although gutka was banned by the law, it was not yet perceived as a social evil. "As a result, its use remains common in homes and neighborhoods. Adults consume gutka in front of children, while people offer it to each other at social gatherings. Gutka should be recognized as a social vice. For this, an effective public awareness campaign should be launched with the involvement of schools, mosques, and community organizations," stressed Baloch. According to a report published by the World Health Organization (WHO), Pakistan ranks highest among countries in the Eastern Mediterranean region for the use of smokeless tobacco, which includes gutka, paan, betel nut (chhalia), and naswar. This widespread usage has contributed to a dangerous rise in cases of oral cancer, which has become the second most common cancer after breast cancer in Pakistan. Karachi is the most affected city in terms of the number of cases of oral cancer, with the majority of gutka users belonging to the lower middle-class areas of the city. The WHO report further claimed that after paan, gutka was the second most commonly used form of chewable tobacco in Karachi. Although the preparation, sale, and use of gutka is legally banned under the Sindh Prohibition of Preparation, Manufacturing, Storage, Sale and Use of Gutka and Manpuri Act, 2019, the law appears to be ineffective in practice. Even though a special task force consisting of police officials from various departments was established in March last year, its impact has been limited. Taha Ahmed Khan, Deputy Parliamentary Leader of MQM-Pakistan in the Sindh Assembly, revealed that the Sindh Assembly had passed a law against gutka however, there has been no meaningful enforcement. "It seems that there is no government presence in Karachi and the city is being run by mafias, including the water mafia, builder mafia, hydrant mafia, and gutka mafia," said Khan. Sadia Javed, a member of the Sindh Assembly from the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and spokesperson for the Sindh government, claimed that the Sindh government was considering amending the law to impose stricter penalties against the sale of gutka. "Tackling major gutka dealers is essential for curbing its spread. IG Sindh Police is personally monitoring the issue," said Javed. The Express Tribune attempted to contact Superintendent of Police (SP) Samiullah Soomro, a member of the task force, to inquire about the number of offenders arrested and punished over the past one year, however, he did not respond. Similarly, Sindh Police spokesperson Syed Saad Ali was also sent several questions via WhatsApp but he too did not send a reply.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store