Reuters
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The Indian government is urgently inspecting all Boeing 787s after the devastating Air India crash that claimed at least 270 lives this week, the Aviation Minister said on Saturday, adding that authorities are investigating all possible causes.
Aviation regulators on Friday ordered Air India to carry out additional maintenance checks on Boeing 787-8/9 aircraft equipped with Genx engines, including assessments of certain takeoff parameters, electronic engine control tests and engine fuel-related checks.
“We also gave orders to carry out extended surveillance of 787 aircraft. There are 34 in the Indian fleet,” Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu gave a media briefing in New Delhi.
“Eight people have already been tested and we will be doing all of that soon, with all of the urgency.”
Air India operates 33 Boeing 787s, but there is one at its rival airline Indigo, according to data from Flightradar24.
However, the plane has not been grounded, but a source on Friday told Reuters that the Indian government is considering it as an option.
Naidu also said the government will examine all possible theories of what led to the crash.
Air India and the Indian government were considering several aspects of the crash, including issues related to engine thrust, flaps. He also reported why the landing gear remains open when the plane comes off after taking off.
The Boeing BA.N 787-8 Dreamliner was tied up towards the UK’s Gatwick airport, where 242 people were tied to the ship, and began losing height after takeoff Thursday, erupting with fireballs as it hit a building that was the world’s worst air disaster in a decade.
Dhaval Gameti, president of BJ Medical College’s Junior Doctors Association, told reporters that at least 270 bodies had been recovered from the crash site of the plane.
Only one of the 242 passengers and crew on board survived while others were killed as the plane raided the Medical College hostel as the plane came down.
The crisis has cast a shadow over Air India. This has been struggling to rebuild its reputation and revamp its fleet for many years after the Tata Group took over the airline from the Indian government in 2022.
Naidu said a government panel is investigating the crash and will issue a report within three months. “We are trying to improve everything we need in our way to improve safety,” he said at a briefing, denying questions from journalists.
Dozens of uneasy families were waiting to gather the bodies of their loved ones who had been killed outside Ahmedabad Hospital as doctors were working overtime to collect dental samples from the deceased and carry out identification and DNA profiling.
Rafiq Abdul Hafiz Memon, who lost four relatives in the incident, said he had not gotten an answer from the authorities and was “very troublesome.”
“We lost our children… we don’t understand anything. Please help us get information about our children. Tell us when they release their bodies,” Memon said.
Another father said he was angry that he couldn’t get the body of his son, Harshad Patel, and was told by authorities that he would take 72 hours to profiling DNA. “The authorities are trying to help, but our patience is running out,” he said.
Most groups that crashed are badly burnt, and authorities use dental samples to perform identification checks.
Forensic dentist Jaishankar Pillai told reporters on Friday that there are dental records of 135 burnt victims. This can be matched through references to previous dental diagrams, radiographs, or other records of the victim.
For doctors, things are becoming more difficult as the plane hits the hostel building at BJ Medical College.
“Most of us struggle with our emotions and we are mentally disturbed by the death of friends and colleagues,” said the doctor who doesn’t want to name it.
“The loss of so many colleagues and friends in this incident is difficult.”