Plane crash death toll reaches 270
New Delhi/Ahmedabad/Mumbai, June 14: The Centre on Saturday set up a high-level multi-disciplinary panel to ascertain the “root cause” of the crash of the London-bound Air India plane in Ahmedabad and assess any contributing factors including mechanical failure, human error and regulatory compliances even as the death toll in the disaster rose to 270.
As the panel headed by Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan was mandated to give its report in three months, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said aviation regulator DGCA has ordered “extended surveillance” for the Tata-owned airline’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner series planes. The Civil Aviation ministry said the committee will not be a substitute to other probes being conducted by relevant organisations.
In a post on X, Air India said it has done one-time safety checks on nine of its Boeing 787 Dreamliners and is on track to complete the checks on the remaining 24 such planes as directed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation(DGCA).The carrier now has 26 Boeing 787-8s and seven Boeing 787-9s in its fleet.
All but one of the 242 passengers and crew on board the Boeing 787-8(AI171) and another 29 persons including five MBBS students on the ground were killed when the aircraft came down on Thursday moments after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport before falling inside the nearby campus of the state-run BJ Medical College in Meghaninagar area and going up in flames.
A-I to provide Rs 25 lakh interim payment to kin
Air India on Saturday announced that it will provide an interim payment of Rs 25 lakh to the families of the deceased and survivors of the Ahmedabad plane crash.
This interim payment is in addition to the Rs 1 crore compensation already announced by the parent company, Tata Sons, Air India said in a statement.
Must fix accountability
Meanwhile, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said the Union government must fix accountability in the horrific Air India plane crash.
Talking to reporters after meeting injured persons at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, Kharge also said the Centre must give compensation to the kin of the deceased and to the injured.
“The government must give compensation to kin of plane crash victims and fix accountability,” he asserted when reminded by mediapersons that neither the state government nor the Centre had announced compensation as yet.
Kharge also visited the site of the crash along with senior Congress leaders Shaktisinh Gohil and Mukul Wasnik.
Grief counsellors
The Gujarat government will assign grief counsellors to families of the Ahmedabad air crash victims to deal with mental trauma, a senior official said on Saturday.
Addressing a news conference, Alok Pandey, Relief Commissioner and Revenue Secretary of Gujarat said 230 teams have been formed to coordinate with families of the victims.
In order to avoid any administrative problem, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation will issue a death certificate on the spot. The patwari of the village can then immediately issue a family relation card so that they do not face any inheritance issue, he said. (PTI)