The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered an extended surveillance of the Boeing 787 series aircraft models, one of which crashed minutes after takeoff from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad on Thursday, killing at least 270 people including all 242 onboard, except a miraculous survivor.
Addressing a press briefing on Saturday, Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said the government has planned to extend surveillance of the Boeing aircraft models, which have come under fire after the deadly crash.
"We have very strict safety standards in the country...When the incident happened, we also felt that there is a need to do an extended surveillance into the Boeing 787 Series," Naidu said.
"DGCA has also given an order to do the extended surveillance for the 787 planes. There are 34 in our Indian aircraft fleet today. I believe that 8 have already been inspected and with immediate urgency, all of them are going to be done," the minister said.
He said that DNA testing is happening to identify victims and hand them over to their families.
"The Gujarat government is coordinating with that. They have been there on the ground since the time of the crash and they have been facilitating all the efforts and measures that are required from their side, so once the DNA testing is confirmed, the bodies will be given to the respective families," the minister said.
"We are hoping that the process also gets (completed) as soon as possible," Naidu added.
Air India flight AI171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, en route to London Gatwick, nosedived minutes after takeoff and crashed into the students hostel of B. J. Medical College in the Meghaninagar neighbourhood, killing at least 29 in the hospital complex, in addition to the 241 people on board.
The Aviation Ministry informed that the last message from the pilot was a "May Day" call, after which the Air Traffic Control (ATC) lost contact with the aircraft.
"The plane took off at 1:39 pm and within a few seconds, after reaching a height of about 650 feet, it started sinking, i.e., it started losing height. At 1:39 pm, the pilot informed Ahmedabad ATC that it was a May Day, i.e., full emergency. According to ATC, when it tried to contact the plane, it did not receive any response. Exactly after 1 minute, this plane crashed in Medhaninagar, which is located at a distance of about 2 km from the airport," Samir Kumar Sinha, Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, said.
He also said that the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner had completed the Paris-Delhi-Ahmedabad sector without any accident, before the deadly crash.
Emphasising that the recovery of the black box is crucial to the investigation of the incident, Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said the ministry is eagerly waiting for the AAIB team to decode it.
"One important update from the technical investigation which is happening through the AAIB is the recovery of the black box yesterday around 5pm from the site, the AAIB team believes that this decoding of the black box is going to give a, in depth insight into what would have actually happened during the process of the crash or moments before the crash itself. We are also eagerly waiting for what the results or the report is going to be once the AAIB goes through its full investigation," he said.
The minister also informed that a high-level multi-disciplinary committee, headed by the Union Home Secretary, has been constituted to investigate the incident. The committee has been given a time frame of three months to conduct the in-depth investigation.
"To further investigate the incident and to look into all the theories and other information that is going around this incident, we felt it would be much better to have another committee also looking into this crash and also the safety. We are going to form another high-level committee, and we have immediately constituted the committee," the minister said.
"The Home Secretary is going to be the Chairman of the Committee, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Additional Secretary from MHA, one representative from the State of Gujarat where the incident actually happened, representative from State Disaster Response Authority, Gujarat, Ahmedabad Police Commissioner, DG Inspection and Safety from the Indian Air Force, DG BCAS, DG DGCA, Special Director from IB and Director from the Directorate of Forensic Sciences Services," he explained.
The minister said that composition of the committee involved "people from various backgrounds and the people we feel who can bring in a lot of expertise and value to the committee which is going to investigate in a holistic way into the incident."
"We have put a time limit of 3 three months for them to sit down, talk to various stakeholders and involve and discuss with any other important expert that is necessary as per their investigation," he added.
Expressing his condolences to all the families who have lost their loved ones in the plane crash, Naidu said, "...to a certain extent, I can understand the pain and anguish that the family members are feeling."
"I would like to reiterate that this was a very tragic incident, a very horrific incident for everyone," he said.
