Supreme Court Questions Air India Crash Probe, Seeks Government Reply
NEW DELHI – India’s Supreme Court has asked the central government to respond to a plea calling for an independent investigation into the Air India plane crash that killed 260 people.
On Monday, the court reviewed a petition filed by the non-profit organization Safety Matters Foundation. The NGO argued that the current investigation team has a serious “conflict of interest.”
Lawyers for the foundation pointed out that three officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India’s aviation safety regulator, are part of the probe. They argued that the investigation must examine the DGCA’s own role and possible mistakes in ensuring safety. Having its own officers on the panel means the agency would be investigating itself.
The court has agreed to consider the demand for a “fair, impartial, and independent” investigation and is now waiting for the government’s official response.
The crash involved an Air India Boeing 787 that went down shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad airport on June 12. A total of 241 people on the flight and 19 people on the ground lost their lives.
An initial government report suggested that pilot confusion in the cockpit might have been a factor, noting that the plane’s fuel engine switches were moved from “run” to “cutoff” just after takeoff. While this preliminary finding did not blame the aircraft manufacturer, some families of the victims believe the investigation has focused too heavily on the pilots’ actions.
This case comes at the same time as a separate lawsuit filed in the United States by the families of four passengers against Boeing and Honeywell, the company that manufactured the switches.
