The final words of the pilot of Air India Flight AI171 that crashed on Thursday have been revealed, providing new details about the final moments before the aircraft went down.
Indian aviation officials have confirmed the pilot issued distress calls before the Gatwick-bound flight crashed in Gujarat state on 12 June, killing 241 people on board and at least 29 on the ground.
“Thrust not achieved… falling… Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!” the pilot said moments before the aircraft began losing height and erupted in a fireball.
The London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner struck a medical college hostel in a residential area of the northwestern city of Ahmedabad minutes after takeoff. One passenger survived.
There were 230 passengers and 12 crew members onboard the aircraft. They included 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese citizens and one Canadian, Air India said.
Authorities have now started to hand over the remains of the victims of one of India’s worst aviation disasters after identifying some through DNA tests.
Rajneesh Patel, an official at the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad, said authorities have so far identified 32 victims through DNA mapping and their families were informed. He said the remains of 14 victims were handed over to relatives.
Grieving families were anxiously waiting outside the hospital mortuary as authorities worked to complete formalities and transfer the bodies in coffins into ambulances.
Many relatives have expressed frustration at the slow pace of the identification process. Authorities said it typically takes up to 72 hours to complete DNA matching, and they are hastening the process.
Alongside the formal investigation, the Indian government has set up a high-level committee to examine the causes leading to the crash.
The committee will focus on formulating procedures to prevent and handle aircraft emergencies in the future, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a statement on Saturday.
Air India and the government are looking at several aspects of the crash, including issues linked to its engine thrust, flaps, and why the landing gear remained open as the plane took off and then came down.
Authorities have also begun inspecting Air India’s entire fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners, minister of civil aviation Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said.
Eight of the 34 Dreamliners in India have already undergone inspection, Mr Kinjarapu said, adding that the remaining aircraft will be examined with “immediate urgency”.
On Friday, investigators recovered the 12-year-old plane’s digital flight data recorder, the black box, from a rooftop near the crash site.
There are currently around 1,200 787 Dreamliner aircraft worldwide, and this was the first fatal crash in 16 years of operation, according to experts.
