THE DEATH toll in the Londonbound Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad rose to 270 on Saturday even as the Centre set up a high-level multi-disciplinary panel headed by the Union Home Secretary to examine the causes that led to the disaster. As investigators pore over wreckage at the BJ Medical Collegehostel andcanteencomplex for clues after the crash of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner(AI171)onThursday, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said aviation regulator DGCA has ordered “extended surveillance” for the Tata-owned airline’s Boeing 787 series planes. 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).

Thecarriernow has 26 legacy Boeing 787-8s and seven Boeing 787-9s in its fleet.

 

All but one of the 242 passengersandcrewonboardAI171and another29personsincluding five MBBS students on the ground were killed when the aircraft came down 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. “Around 270bodieshavebeen brought to the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital so far from the plane crash site,” President of Junior DoctorsassociationofBJMedical College, Dr Dhaval Gameti, told PTI. The death toll in the country’s worst ever air disaster in three decades was earlier put by authorities at 265. As investigators looked into all possiblecausesfor thecrash,includinglossof thrustinbothengines of the11-year-oldaircraft,multiple bird strikes, or a potential flapissue,Naidu toldreporters in Delhi that decoding of the Black box is going to give “indepth insight” into what happened moments before the tragedy.

 

The Digital Flight Data Recorder(DFDR), commonly known as the Black box, was recoveredfrom the“rooftop”of the hostel building at the crash site on Friday. There was no word yet on recovery of anotherBlack box- - the Cockpit Voice Recorder(CVR). This instrument records radio transmissions and other sounds in the cockpit, such as conversations between the pilots and engine noises. Naidu said India has very strict aviation safety standards and robust protocols, and everything will be done to further improve safety. The central panel headedby theUnionHomeSecretary will also suggest comprehensive guidelines topreventincidents like the Ahmedabad crash in the future. It will have its first meeting on Monday. The panelwillpublishitsreportin three months, a statement by the Civil Aviation Ministry said.

 

The panel will ascertain the root cause of the crash and assess thecontributingfactors, including mechanical failure, human error, weather conditions, regulatory compliances and other reasons, it said. It will also recommend necessary improvements and formulate suitable Standard OperatingProcedures(SOPs) to prevent such incidents in the future. The SOPs would also includebestinternationalpractices regarding preventing and handling such incidents, the statement said.