AHMEDABAD/NEW DELHI, June 14 — India's government is urgently inspecting all Boeing 787s after a devastating Air India crash that claimed at least 270 lives this week, the aviation minister said today, adding that the authorities were investigating all possible causes.
Yesterday, the aviation regulator ordered Air India to conduct additional maintenance checks on its Boeing 787-8/9 aircraft equipped with GEnx engines, including assessments of certain take-off parameters, electronic engine control tests, and engine fuel-related checks.
"We have also given the order to do the extended surveillance of the 787 planes. There are 34 in our Indian fleet," Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu told a press briefing in New Delhi, without saying if the checks will apply to all Indian airlines.
"Eight have already been inspected, and with immediate urgency, all of them are going to be done," he added.
Air India operates 33 Boeing 787s, while rival airline IndiGo has one, according to data from Flightradar24.
However, the planes have not been grounded, but a source told Reuters yesterday that the Indian government was considering that as an option.
Naidu also said the government will look at all possible theories of what led to the crash.
Air India and the Indian government were looking at several aspects of the crash, including issues linked to its engine thrust, flaps, and why the landing gear remained open as the plane took off and then came down, Reuters has reported.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with 242 people on board bound for the United Kingdom's Gatwick Airport began losing height seconds after take-off on Thursday (June 12) and erupted in a fireball as it hit buildings below, in what has been the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade.
B.J. Medical College's Junior Doctors Association president Dhaval Gameti told the press that at least 270 bodies have been recovered from the site of the plane crash.
Only one of the 242 passengers and crew onboard survived, while others were killed as the plane struck the medical college's hostel as it came down.
The crisis has cast a shadow over Air India, which has struggled for years to rebuild its reputation and revamp its fleet after the Tata Group took over the airline from the Indian government in 2022.
Yesterday, Tata's chairman said the group wants to understand what happened, but "we do not know right now."
Dozens of anxious family members have been waiting outside an Ahmedabad hospital to collect the bodies of loved ones killed in the crash, as doctors were working overtime to gather dental samples from the deceased to run identification checks and DNA profiling.
Rafiq Abdul Hafiz Memon, who lost four relatives in the incident, said he was not getting any answers from authorities and was "very hassled".
"We have lost our children ... we are not understanding anything. Please help us get information about our children. Tell us when they are going to release their bodies," he said.
Another father was upset about not being able to get the body of his son, Harshad Patel, saying he was told by authorities it would take 72 hours for DNA profiling.
"The authorities are trying to help, but our patience is running out," he said.
Most bodies in the crash were badly charred, and authorities are using dental samples to run identification checks.
Forensic dentist Jaishankar Pillai told the press yesterday that they had the dental records of 135 charred victims, which can then be matched through reference to victims' prior dental charts, radiographs, or other documents.
— Reuters
