The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued an order to extend the scrutiny of the Boeing Dreamliner 787 series planes present in the Indian Aircraft fleet, said Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu on June 14.
Naidu further stated that around eight Boeing 787 Series aircraft have already been scrutinised and inspected with immediate urgency.
Addressing a press conference here, the Union Civil Aviation Minister said, “We have very strict safety standards in the country…When the incident happened, we also felt that there is a need to do an extended surveillance of the Boeing 787 Series. DGCA has also given an order to do the extended surveillance for the Boeing 787 planes. There are 34 in our Indian aircraft fleet today. I believe that 8 have already been inspected, and with immediate urgency, all of them are going to be done.”
“Furthermore, as the investigation is going to proceed and the report is going to come, whatever necessary steps need to be taken, we are going to ensure that without any hesitation, we are going to improve every necessary thing that is going to come our way to improve the safety”, he added.
The Union Minister further informed that Air India has been instructed to facilitate the process of assisting the families of the passengers in every possible way. He added that the bodies are being given to the respective families after confirmation from DNA testing and hoped that this process would be completed soon.
He said, “It is very heart-wrenching to see the stories of the people who have lost their lives… We have instructed Air India to facilitate the process of assisting the families of the passengers in whatever way is required. The DNA testing is also happening on one side so that the bodies can be identified and given to the respective families. The government of Gujarat is coordinating with that. Once the DNA testing is confirmed, the bodies are being given to the respective families, and we are hoping that the process also gets finished as soon as possible, but the documentation and the procedure need to be followed. We are ensuring that there is no lapse in the process or the protocol that needs to be followed…”
On June 12, the Al-171 Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 aeroplane bound for London’s Gatwick had crashed shortly after it took off from the Ahmedabad International Airport. The airlines said only one out of the 242 people on board the aircraft survived the crash.
Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu further said that the Air India Flight that crashed in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, leaving 241 people dead, has shaken the entire nation.
Naidu said, “The last two days have been very difficult, especially for the ministry and everyone else. The incident that happened in Ahmedabad has shaken the entire nation. My deepest condolences to the family members who have lost their loved ones in the incident. I have also personally lost my father to a road accident, so to a certain extent, I can understand the pain and anguish the family members are feeling.”
“It was a moment of shock right after we got to know about the incident, but even in that disbelief, I personally rushed to the site to oversee what needed to be done and what support was needed. Once we rushed to the site, the government of Gujarat had already been working on the ground trying to rescue,” he added.
The Minister said that the recovery of the Black Box from the debris was critical to the investigative process.
“The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, which was formed specifically to look into the incidents, accidents that happen around aircraft, was immediately mobilised. One important update from the technical investigation which is happening through the AAIB is the recovery of the black box yesterday around 5 pm from the site, the AAIB team believes that this decoding of the black box is going to give an in depth insight into what would have happened during the process of the crash or moments before the crash itself. We are also eagerly waiting for what the results or the report are going to be once the AAIB goes through its full investigation…”
The Central government has already constituted a high-level multidisciplinary committee for examining the causes leading to the crash of Air India Flight AI-171.
Earlier in the day, officials from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) arrived in Ahmedabad, where the London-bound Air India flight crashed. The AAIB, a division under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, is responsible for probing aircraft accidents in India and has launched a formal investigation into the matter.
(with inputs from ANI)
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