Relatives of some of the 260 victims of last month’s Air India disaster have hit out at the airline and the Indian Government over the initial investigation report, saying they have rushed to blame pilots while hiding failings that led to the crash.
The report released by Indian authorities early on Saturday said initial findings indicated that switches controlling fuel flow to the jet’s two engines were turned off, leading to a catastrophic loss of thrust at take-off.
According to the report, one of the pilots is heard in the recovered cockpit voice recording asking the other why he cut off the fuel supply. The other pilot responds that he didn’t.
“This report is wrong. We don’t accept it,” said Ameen Siddiqui, 28, whose brother-in-law, Akeel Nanabawa, died alongside his wife and their 4-year-old daughter.
“It’s a cover-up to protect Air India and the government,” Siddiqui told The Telegraph from Surat, south of Ahmedabad, where the plane crashed.
“They want to blame dead pilots who can’t defend themselves. How can the fuel switches end up turning off at a critical moment, either through pilot error or a mechanical fault?
“And if these pilots were so careless, why did the government allow them to fly at all? Air India until recently was owned by the government.”
Siddiqui added that he had rejected Air India’s compensation offer and would take the airline to court for “killing our family members”.
“We have seen videos, showing how poorly Air India maintained these jets. They have to answer our questions and take the responsibility,” he added.
Imtiyaz Ali Syed, 42, whose brother died in the crash with his wife Mariam and their two children, said he wanted answers so he could “begin to heal”.
He added: “Instead, all I got was aviation jargon praising Boeing’s systems. The report saying nothing conclusive. I have read it a dozen times, but found no closure.”
He demanded that the full cockpit audio be released in the presence of independent and international experts.
“Everyone – Air India, Boeing, the government – has something to protect. But we have lost our entire families. How can we move on without the truth?” he asked.
Sameer Rafik, whose cousin Faizan died in the crash, also called on Air India to release the cockpit voice recording.
He told the BBC he did not trust the report, saying it made no sense that the pilots would switch off the fuel supply to the engines.
“I don’t believe that, because both the pilots were experienced enough to fly. The captain had flown more than 8300 hours, the co-pilot had more than 3100 hours,” said Rafik.
“Until the airline provides the cockpit recording to us I’m not going to believe it.”
When asked why he was unconvinced by the report, he said he did not trust the Indian Government.
Authorities said data extraction from the plane’s black boxes by a team of Indian and US experts, including some from the US National Transportation Safety Board, began on June 24, 12 days after the disaster.
American officials have been frustrated by what they say is the slow pace of downloading, analysing and sharing the contents of the black boxes, insiders have claimed.
Air India Flight 171, bound for London Gatwick, crashed shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad airport on June 12, killing 230 passengers and 12 crew members. A further 19 people were killed on the ground.
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a 40-year-old British national, was the sole survivor of those on board.