India plane crash death toll rises to 279: Source
AHMEDABAD: An Indian police source said on Saturday (Jun 14) that 279 bodies had been recovered from the site where a passenger jet crashed into a residential district of the city of Ahmedabad.
The revised toll from a senior officer in the city, who requested anonymity in order to speak to the media, raises an earlier figure of 265.
The official casualty number will not be finalised until the slow process of DNA identification is completed.
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CNA
17 hours ago
- CNA
India plane crash death toll rises to 279: Source
AHMEDABAD: An Indian police source said on Saturday (Jun 14) that 279 bodies had been recovered from the site where a passenger jet crashed into a residential district of the city of Ahmedabad. The revised toll from a senior officer in the city, who requested anonymity in order to speak to the media, raises an earlier figure of 265. The official casualty number will not be finalised until the slow process of DNA identification is completed.
CNA
a day ago
- CNA
Black box found at site of Air India plane crash that killed 265
AHMEDABAD: Investigators recovered a black box recorder on Friday (Jun 13) from the crash site of a London-bound passenger jet that ploughed into a residential area of India's Ahmedabad city, killing at least 265 people on board and on the ground. The Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner issued a mayday call shortly before it crashed around lunchtime on Thursday after lifting barely 100m from the ground. One man on board the plane, which was carrying 242 passengers and crew, miraculously survived the fiery crash, which left the tailpiece of the aircraft jutting out of the second floor of a hostel for medical staff from a nearby hospital. "Initially, I too thought that I was about to die, but then I opened my eyes and realised that I was still alive," survivor Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a British citizen, told national broadcaster DD News from his hospital bed. The nose and front wheel of Air India flight 171 landed on a canteen building where students were having lunch, witnesses said. Deputy Commissioner of Police Kanan Desai said 265 bodies had been counted so far, which suggested that at least 24 people were killed on the ground. The toll could rise further as more body parts are recovered. "The official number of deceased will be declared only after DNA testing is completed", Home Minister Amit Shah said in a statement late on Thursday. DNA samples will be taken from family members of the dead who live abroad, he said. Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian on board the flight bound for London's Gatwick airport, as well as 12 crew members. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the devastated neighbourhood on Friday and was also pictured by survivor Ramesh's bedside. Ramesh, who suffered burns and other injuries, said: "Everything happened in front of me, and even I couldn't believe how I managed to come out alive from that." "Within a minute after takeoff, suddenly ... it felt like something got stuck ... I realised something had happened, and then suddenly the plane's green and white lights turned on." Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said that a flight data recorder, or black box, had been recovered, saying it would "significantly aid" investigations. "LAST CALL" In Ahmedabad, disconsolate relatives of passengers gathered at an emergency centre on Friday to give DNA samples so their loved ones could be identified. Ashfaque Nanabawa, 40, said he had come to find his cousin Akeel Nanabawa, who had been aboard with his wife and three-year-old daughter. They had spoken as his cousin sat in the plane before takeoff. "He called us and he said: 'I am in the plane and I have boarded safely and everything was okay'. That was his last call." One woman, too grief-stricken to give her name, said her son-in-law had been killed. "My daughter doesn't know that he's no more," she said, wiping away tears. "I can't break the news to her, can someone else do that please?" Volunteer rescuers described seeing "bodies everywhere". "The bodies were totally burnt. It was like coal," said Bharat Solanki, 51, who was working at a nearby fuel station and rushed to the site with a couple of friends. Ahmedabad, the main city in India's Gujarat state, is home to around eight million people and its busy airport is surrounded by densely packed residential areas. "One half of the plane crashed into the residential building where doctors lived with their families," said Krishna, a doctor who did not give his full name. US planemaker Boeing said it was in touch with Air India and stood "ready to support them" over the incident, which a source close to the case said was the first crash for a 787 Dreamliner. India's aviation authorities ordered Air India on Friday to "carry out additional maintenance actions" on its fleet of Boeing 787-8/9 Dreamliners equipped with GEnx engines. The carrier has 34 Dreamliners, although it was not immediately clear how many have the advanced GEnx engines. RAPID GROWTH India has suffered a series of fatal air crashes, including a 1996 disaster when two jets collided mid-air over New Delhi, killing nearly 350 people. In 2010, an Air India Express jet crashed and burst into flames at Mangalore airport in southwest India, killing 158 of the 166 passengers and crew on board. Experts said it was too early to speculate on what may have caused Thursday's crash. "The aircraft is designed to be able to fly on one engine, so the most likely cause of the crash is a double engine failure," said Jason Knight, senior lecturer in fluid mechanics at the University of Portsmouth. "The most likely cause of a double engine failure is a bird strike." India's airline industry has boomed in recent years. The growth of its economy has made India and its 1.4 billion people the world's fourth-largest air market - domestic and international - with the International Air Transport Association projecting it will become the third biggest within the decade.
CNA
2 days ago
- CNA
Jail for man who conned nearly S$80,000 from victims in fake massage chair investment scheme
SINGAPORE: A man leveraged his knowledge of the massage chair industry to cheat victims into investing nearly S$80,000 (US$62,000) in a fake business opportunity. Mohammad Shahrizan Johari even perpetrated the scheme on his own cousin, who was duped of nearly S$60,000. Shahrizan, 43, was given one year and two months' jail on Friday (Jun 13) after he pleaded guilty to two counts of cheating. Another two charges of cheating were taken into consideration for his sentencing. In 2020, one of the victims, Muhammad Hereyzal Abdul Aziz, befriended Shahrizan. In October 2022, Shahrizan offered Mr Hereyzal an investment opportunity involving OSIM massage chairs. Shahrizan said he would handle the business operations while Mr Hereyzal could earn a profit of S$12,600 a month by investing his money. Mr Hereyzal transferred S$13,600 to Shahrizan over four occasions between Oct 28, 2022 and Nov 12, 2022. As he had previously worked with OSIM, Shahrizan knew how the company operated, and was able to provide Mr Hereyzal with supporting details, including how the chairs would be stored in a Jurong warehouse. He told Mr Hereyzal that the business involved buying OSIM chairs and delivering them to shops which purchased them. Mr Hereyzal did not receive any returns and eventually realised that Shahrizan had duped him. He filed a police report on Feb 21, 2023. By then, Shahrizan was in debt of about S$50,000 as a result of gambling and the loans he had taken. CHEATED FAMILY MEMBER Shahrizan pulled the same trick on his cousin Muhammad Aidil Samsuri but with a different brand. Between Sep 24, 2021 and Jan 11, 2022, Shahrizan asked Mr Aidil to invest in an opportunity involving the delivery of Ogawa chairs in September 2021. Shahrizan told Mr Aidil that he could earn profits with payouts every 40 days. His cousin made five transfers amounting to S$57,370. Mr Aidil grew suspicious after some time, as he did not receive any returns on his investment. "As the accused was Aidil's cousin, Aidil gave the accused the benefit of the doubt for some time, before eventually reporting the matter to the police in September 2023," the prosecution said. Deputy Public Prosecutor Joelle Loy said Shahrizan had conned his cousin as he was desperate to pay off his loans. The accused claimed that he knew about Ogawa's operations from his previous employment with the brand. Shahrizan was arrested on Feb 26, 2024 and has since made partial restitution, comprising the full sum of S$13,600 to Mr Hereyzal, but only S$9,000 to Mr Aidil. Shahrizan has also repaid the two other victims in full. Ms Loy argued for the court to jail Shahrizan between 18 and 20 months. "Out of desperation to repay his debts quickly, the accused selfishly and persistently cheated multiple victims of considerable amounts of their hard-earned money," she said. Shahrizan's lawyer Riko Isaac sought 10 to 12 months' jail. Mr Isaac said his client worked as a sub-contractor with OSIM for two years from 2013 to 2014, during which he collected and delivered massage chairs for repairs and returns. The defence lawyer told the court that his client was desperate for funds to pay the medical bills of his daughter, who is autistic and suffers from Lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease. The loans he took were not a result of gambling, but were needed to pay the medical bills, the lawyer said. At this point, District Judge Ng Cheng Thiam interjected to say that given his daughter's condition, Shahrizan should have tried to save money rather than use it for gambling. Mr Isaac acknowledged this. "He has been trying his utmost best to make full restitution. He is currently undergoing divorce proceedings and hoped to be able to sell his house and use the sale proceeds to make restitution," added Mr Isaac. "He was unfortunately unable to accomplish this due to time constraints and was only able to make partial restitution. "Ultimately, this is a man who was trying to provide for his family and he allowed his financial desperation to cloud his judgment in these circumstances and unfortunately he committed these offences," said Mr Isaac.
