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Yahoo
12 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
What you need to know about the Air India Boeing Dreamliner crash
(Reuters) -The crash of an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner seconds after takeoff from Ahmedabad city, killing all but one of the 242 people on board, is the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade. At least 30 people were also killed on the ground as the airliner crashed into a medical college hostel near the airport. The crash poses a fresh challenge for Air India, which has long sought to become a "world-class airline", and Boeing, which is working to restore public trust after a series of safety and production crises. CRASH, ANXIOUS FAMILIES AND RESCUE * A 59-second CCTV video clip, one of the strongest pieces of visual evidence, showed the takeoff and the crash. The descent of the plane starts roughly 17 seconds after takeoff. There is no fire visible around the engine or elsewhere when the plane appears to start going down. * There were 169 Indians, 53 Britons, 7 Portuguese, and one Canadian among the passengers on board. Twelve crew members were also on the plane. * The only survivor was Viswashkumar Ramesh, 40, who was in seat 11A, near the emergency exit. * Dozens of anxious family members are waiting to collect bodies of loved ones as doctors work to gather dental samples and do DNA profiling to identify bodies badly charred. EARLY INVESTIGATION * Air India and the Indian government are looking at issues linked to engine thrust, flaps, and why the landing gear remained open. The black boxes, crucial to the crash probe, have been recovered. * India's aviation safety watchdog has asked Air India for the training records of the pilots and dispatchers, while asking flying schools to conduct training compliance checks. * Officials from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and U.S. Federal Aviation Administration officials, as well as Boeing and GE, have surveyed the crash site. * An inspection of Air India's 787 fleet did not reveal any major issues, but the Indian aviation watchdog raised concerns about recent maintenance-related issues reported by the airline and advised the carrier to "strictly adhere to regulations". TRAGIC TALES * The plane hit a college hostel building. When Reuters visited, some steel tumblers and plates containing food lay on the few tables that were left intact. Wheels and other parts of the aircraft were embedded in the walls. * Ravi Thakor, a cook at the college hostel, and his wife have been praying for a 'second miracle' - just like the survival of the sole passenger - as he searches for his two-year-old daughter, whom he had rocked to sleep before stepping out 30 minutes before the crash to deliver lunch boxes. * Lawrence Christian, a 30-year-old working in Britain, had flown to India to bury his father, but just two weeks later, his family will have to bury him. His grandmother grieved the loss of "light of our home." INSIDE AIR INDIA * Boeing Commercial Airplanes' head Stephanie Pope visited India and met Air India Chair N. Chandrasekaran at the airline's headquarters. * Chandrasekaran also held a town hall meeting with 700 staff saying the Tata Group-owned airline should use the crash as a catalyst to build a safer airline. * In another incident, an Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane bound for New Delhi returned to its origin of Hong Kong after takeoff on June 16 following a technical issue. (Compiled by Praveen Paramasivam in Chennai and Sai Ishwarbharath B in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Kalra and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
The Independent
6 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
Indian authorities begin probe of Air India plane crash as Modi visits the site
Authorities began investigating one of India's worst aviation disasters after an Air India plane crashed a day earlier that killed all but one of the 242 passengers and crew onboard, officials said Friday, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the crash site. The Indian government has launched an investigation into the fatal crash of the London-bound Air India plane that came down in a in a residential area in the northwestern city of Ahmedabad minutes after takeoff on Thursday. Officials said most of the bodies were charred beyond recognition. Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu in a statement on the social media said the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has initiated the probe in line with global protocols set by the International Civil Aviation Organization. A team from the U.S. is expected in India to help with the probe. The National Transportation Safety Board, Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing and General Electric are all sending experts. There was no update on retrieving the black boxes, the flight data and cockpit voice recorders, as authorities continued searching the crash site. Akshay Dongardiv, national president of the Federation of All India Medical Association, said medics had begun conducting DNA tests as grieving families gathered outside the Civil hospital in Ahmedabad on Friday. The plane hit a building hosting a medical college hostel and burst into flames, killing several college students on the ground. Black smoke billowed from the site where the plane crashed near the airport in Ahmedabad, a city of more than 5 million and the capital of Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state. Modi visited the crash site and the local government hospital where the injured are being treated. He is scheduled to hold a meeting with senior officials later in the day. Indian Home Minister Amit Shah confirmed that he met the sole survivor at the hospital. A doctor said he had examined the survivor, whom he identified as Vishwashkumar Ramesh. 'He was disoriented with multiple injuries all over his body,' Dr. Dhaval Gameti told The Associated Press. 'But he seems to be out of danger.' Another medic said Ramesh told him that immediately after the plane took off, it began descending and suddenly split in two, throwing him out before a loud explosion. Thursday's Air India crash involved a 12-year-old Boeing 787. The cause of the crash remains unclear. Boeing planes have been plagued by safety issues on other types of aircraft. According to experts, there are currently around 1,200 of the 787 Dreamliner aircraft worldwide, and this was the first deadly crash in 16 years of operation.
