Ahmedabad AI crash: AAIB probe unbiased, Rammohan Naidu tells Rajya Sabha
Union Civil Aviation Minister urges against premature conclusions, asserts that the process of investigation has to be respected
An “unbiased” investigation into the Ahmedabad Air India plane crash is underway following international protocol, Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said in Rajya Sabha on the first day of the Monsoon Session on Monday (July 21).
“We have our own Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), which has started its process following international protocol,” he said.
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Responding to supplementary questions in the Upper House, Naidu said the AAIB has been successful in decoding data from black boxes of the crashed Air India plane. “They have completed the first stage of the investigation process and have submitted the preliminary investigation report,” he said.
The AAIB released its preliminary report into the fatal crash on July 12. On July 17, it said it is too early to draw any “definite conclusions” on what led to the crash, as the probe is still on and that the final report will come out with the root causes, while it urged everyone to avoid spreading premature narratives.
‘Respect the process of investigation’
“The AAIB follows a definitive, rule-based process, [and it is] totally unbiased in probing the Air India Ahmedabad plane crash,” Naidu said.
“I have seen multiple articles, not only in the Indian media but also in the Western media, trying to promote their viewpoint. But I have to tell you that the way we have to see the investigation is through the facts,” he said.
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“We want to stand by the truth. We want to find out what exactly happened and will only come out once the final report is released. So, we have to respect the process of investigation, and once that process of investigation has happened and then we can talk about how it happened and why it happened. Then the corrective measures will come in,” he added.
On June 12, a Boeing 787-8 aircraft of Air India, enroute from Ahmedabad to London’s Gatwick, crashed into a building soon after take-off, killing 260 people, including 19 on the ground. Of the 242 people onboard, only one passenger survived.
(With agency inputs)