NEW DELHI: Two families who totally lost four members in the ghastly June 12 Dreamliner crash of the Ahmedabad-London Gatwick flight which caused 260 deaths have filed a lawsuit in the US against two firms that manufactured fuel switches for the aircraft. The family’s contention is that faulty switches have allegedly caused the crash.
Speaking to this newspaper, Kuldip Ishrani, a vernacular journalist in Gujarat who has been providing pro bone guidance to the families of the victims told this newspaper, “The kin of the Paghadal and Patel families who died on board the flight have filed the case in the U.S on Tuesday.”
This is in connection with the deaths of Kantaben Dhirubahi Paghadal, Naavya Chirag Paghadal, Kuberbhai Patel and Babiben Patel, he said. “Their kin are based both in Ahmedabad and in the UK. The compensation sought by the families is not known,” he added.
The preliminary report by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AIIB), released on July 12, had mentioned the positioning of the fuel control switches to the cut-off mode after the plane took-off to be the cause of the crash.
A Reuters report said the lawsuit filed in Delaware Superior Court blames Boeing and Honeywell which made the switches for the crash seconds after Flight AI 171 took off. “The lawsuit appears to be the first in the U.S. over the crash,” the report said.
The report had also pointed out that the airline had not followed the advisory recommended by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in 2018 on carrying out inspections in fuel control switches of all Boeing aircraft. Later, Air India and its sister concern, Air India Express, carried out the checks in all their aircraft.