Air India jet crash fireball was so intense it may have MELTED black boxes as families face agonising wait for answers
THE Air India plane crash generated so much heat that it might have melted the aircraft's black boxes, investigators warned.
As grieving families agonisingly wait for answers, authorities rushing to work out the
Advertisement
8
The London-bound Air India aircraft crashed on a medical college hostel soon after taking off from the western city of Ahmedabad
Credit: x/nchorAnandN
8
Investigators have warned the sheer heat generated from the crash could have melted the black boxes
Credit: X
8
The plane exploded into a fireball after crashing down into the buildings
Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk
The London-bound
Only one passenger
Amit Singh, a former
Planes usually carry
Advertisement
Read more on World
One records flight data, such as altitude and speed, whilst the other monitors the cockpit sound.
But whilst both devices are designed to survive accidents, investigators have warned the heat generated from the crash could have melted the boxes.
The first was recovered from a rooftop near where the plane came down just 28 hours after the crash.
We already know that the pilot, Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, made a desperate
Advertisement
Most read in The Sun
Latest
Latest
He cried out: "'Thrust not achieved [...] falling [...] Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!"
The two pilots then wrestled for 17 seconds with the controls as the jet sank through the air before careening into the buildings below.
New video of doomed Air India flight 'shows Boeing 787 did lose power' just before crash
Sabharwal had 22 years of experience and had racked up 8,200 in the air.
The plane gained just a few hundred feet of altitude when the power apparently cut out, killing more Brits
Advertisement
Singh said the investigating authorities will scan
Investigators will also study the pilot training records, total load of the aircraft and any thrust issues related to the plane's engine.
The Indian government has also set up a separate committee to examine the
But despite the large cohort of investigators working to find out what happened on that fateful flight, aircraft bosses warned it could take some time because of the "charred" plane.
Advertisement
8
More than 270 people died when the plane crashed
Credit: Getty
8
Only one passenger survived
Credit: X
The committee is expected to file a preliminary report within three months.
Authorities have also begun inspecting and carrying out additional maintenance and checks of
Advertisement
Air India has 33 Dreamliners in its fleet.
The plane that crashed was 12 years old. Boeing planes have been plagued by safety issues on other types of aircraft.
There are currently around 1,200 of the 787 Dreamliner aircraft worldwide and this was the first deadly crash in 16 years of operation, according to experts.
Since the devastating incident
Advertisement
Flight AI 159 was planned to depart Ahmedabad, India, at 1.10pm local time on Tuesday, and arrive at Gatwick airport at 6.25pm BST.
Air India's website shows the flight was initially delayed by one hour and 50 minutes but was later cancelled.
A flight from Gatwick to Amritsar, India, set to depart at 8pm BST was also axed, as well as Paris-bound flight AI143 from Delhi.
The cancelled flights were scheduled to be operated by a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which is the same type of aircraft that crashed on June 12.
Advertisement
8
People gather at the site of the plane crash
Credit: EPA
8
Hundreds scrambled to get word of their loved ones
Credit: AP
8
Rescue team members worked to put out the flames
Credit: Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Independent
2 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Message of unity and peace as thousands take part in Cork city's Eucharistic procession
Amid the brightly coloured sparkling umbrellas of the Indian Syro-Malabar community and Ukrainians in traditional vyshyvanka or embroidered shirts were the Dominican friars in their black and white habits. They were joined by Franciscans in brown habits, members of the Legion of Mary and young Catholics from Youth 2000, as the procession made its way across the River Lee via the Christy Ring Bridge. Once again, the Butter Exchange Band led the event with fittingly solemn religious hymns, as it has since the procession started almost a century ago. Cork city's traffic ground to a halt to allow the religious parade pass. In his address at the concluding outdoor benediction on Grand Parade, Bishop Fintan Gavin said the procession was 'not simply a tradition or a spectacle' but a 'proclamation' and 'a living testimony'. He prayed for 'a war-torn world that needs peace and healing now more than ever' and for families striving to stay together amid pressure and pain, young people searching for meaning and purpose in a chaotic world, for the elderly who feel forgotten and migrants who feel alone. Cork's Lord Mayor, Fergal Dennehy, recalled how the procession had been established in the first years of the new State as a way of bringing people together in the aftermath of the Civil War. 'Given the state of our world today I think it is very important that the message today was one of unity and peace,' he told the Irish Independent. 'Today we can see the expanding community in Cork here. It is a very different community to what it was 99 years ago when this procession began. There is a great sense of togetherness here today.' Trish Harrington has been a member of the Butter Exchange Band for 46 years and has played in the procession for every one of those years. 'It was only men in the band up until 1978, I was the first uniformed female in the band.' ADVERTISEMENT Learn more Wife and husband, Noreen and Liam Willis from Cork, take part in the procession every year with their fellow parishioners in Mayfield. They recalled how as recently as 40 years ago the procession was a male-only affair. The men walked while women and children stood along the route looking on. 'In later years, it became more family-orientated so everyone is walking,' Noreen explained. Another Cork local, Frank O'Neill, was one of those who watched the procession yesterday as mobility issues prevented the 66-year-old from taking part, which he has done annually since he was an altar boy. 'The streets were packed,' he recalled. 'The mothers and the children would be looking on as the men walked in the procession. It is nice to see the different nations adding colour and swelling the numbers now.' Husband and wife, Taras and Anna Kushnir from Ukraine revealed that they met in Cork in 2003 under the Shandon bells and their three boys were all born in Ireland. Participating was not just about faith but expressing gratitude to Ireland.
Irish Examiner
6 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Letters to the Editor: My mother had a happy experience of residential care
My mother's experience of senior residential care was happy. She felt safe there. My sister became her daily visitor, sitting with her and interacting with the staff and residents around her. In quick time, we all knew whether anyone from our area worked there. We knew what work the residents had done during their lives and how their families were noteworthy or/and connected to us in any ways. When we visited, we were introduced to everyone in their turn and made use of to benefit the community. I was called upon to supply poetry notes for someone's child sitting State exams, a small favour my mother or sister asked of me. In no time at all, a village atmosphere grew around us, with all the care and love that a village affords to its locals. My sister's commitment to my mother was immeasurable. I am humbled; as her infrequent brother, I turned up some of the time. Here, in Dungarvan, my father-in-law had an excellent experience of residential care. He was literally across the road from where we live. One of his daughters works in that facility and spent all of her days working around him. My wife became his daily visitor, dropping in for hours in the evening and visiting other residents in turn while she was there. His old school friends and dancing partners sat by the beds around him or made for lively banter in the day room. How they loved to party. Staffed by people, known to his children, whose parents and grandparents were the backdrop to his life, his carers loved to listen to his stories. Workers from across the world were treated with the same lively fun and given the 'céad míle fáilte'. Somehow, it became his personal and individual experience of being in care. Con O'Sullivan, Dungarvan, Co Waterford Kindness in wake of Air India bombing My mother, Barsa Kelly, was aboard the downed Air India plane in 1985. The anxiety of not knowing what to expect, combined with our terrible grief, was almost intolerable. The compassion, sympathy and support that we received from the moment we arrived in Cork somehow made our ordeal more bearable. The people of Cork made us feel as if it was their tragedy as well as ours. We were met by two wonderful ladies when we landed, a nurse and a sister — we think their names were Geraldine and Lorna. We met Garda Donal McCarthy at the then Cork Regional Hospital, and we will be forever indebted to him for his kindness and patience. His gentle way was a crutch for us. He later phoned us at the hotel to say how glad he was we had found my mother. We were extremely touched by this gesture. We are also indebted to Donal Cullinane and Dan Lordan who went above and beyond their required duty to help us. Without their keen observation regarding the matching of the identification forms, we would not have found mom. With their kind manner they made sure we were never rushed, yet everything they did was concise and professional. We would like once again to thank the staffs of the Imperial Hotel and of what's now Cork University Hospital, as well as the taxi drivers who refused to let us pay them. Not a person at the hospital passed me without asking if I needed something or just wordlessly put an arm around me. The death of my mother will scar us forever, but we will always remember the exceptional kindness with which we were treated by the people of Cork. We have never encountered kinder souls. Lorna Kelly, Ontario, Canada What's your view on this issue? You can tell us here EU's stance on Iran An open letter to Ursula von der Leyen: As an Irish citizen and, consequently, also a citizen of the European Union, I felt the need to write to you. I hope you will consider my following concerns, which I share with full respect. Irish radio news reported this week that after Israel's attack on Iran and after your conversation with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, you reported, while attending the G7 summit in Canada, that, in this context, Israel has the right to defend itself, Iran is the principal source of regional instability, and Iran is the source of terror in the Middle East. Naturally, I respect your right to have the belief that Iran is the principal source of regional instability in the Middle East. However, the events of history, including very recent history, also calls attention to the extraordinary source of terror and regional instability in the Middle East, which Israel's actions have so blatantly displayed. Regarding the longer history of Israeli abuses perpetrated against the Palestinians, I refer to the eye-opening work of the internationally respected Jewish Israeli historian Ilan Pappé. I am not suggesting that one should necessarily accept or reject what Prof Pappé shares. But I am suggesting that it is important that people at least allow themselves to become aware of his historical research and then, after having done so, to make up their own minds. Also, regarding what is occurring in the Middle East and beyond, I am reminded of Orwell's words from his book 1984: 'The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears.' It is not only a fact that Israel has the right to defend itself, but it is also a fact that every country (even Russia) and every individual person has the right to defend themselves. However, the manner of how a country or an individual carries out their defence of themselves is not only a different fact but also a very different fact, especially if it includes barbarity, war crimes, and maybe even genocide against thousands of innocent civilians. In a radio interview I gave yesterday, the interviewer asked me to say something about the purpose of our Thinking Centre here in Ireland. I answered that one of our main objectives is to try to understand more deeply how prejudices (pre-judge) can so unknowingly take hold within our human minds and, consequently, unbalance how we perceive and speak about the events we encounter. I include myself in this as well. During this interview, I also drew attention to those enduring wise words from the Bible: 'Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.' However, in this conflict taking place between Israel and Iran, both sides not only throw stones at one another but also fall into that form of adolescent consciousness in which each side exclusively blames the other for the stones they themselves are throwing. I think outside forces strongly announcing too early the taking of sides of either combatant in this type of conflict can result in the unintended implication of injecting further energy into these 'adolescent' impasses. In these very dangerous situations, such as this war between Israel and Iran, I think the primary responsibility of all those outside powers not directly involved in the conflict is to participate in a manner that helps de-escalate the crisis before it gets even more dangerously out of control. Afterwards, when peace and stability return, then representatives of governments and institutions can indulge in the luxury of expressing their personal views on who was to blame, or who was most to blame. However, by so prematurely and so publicly announcing of the taking of the side of Israel against Iran, how can Iran be expected to listen, trust, or have any kind of constructive relationship with any peace initiative the European Union may later propose? This is why dialogue, especially the spirit of dialogue, is so important because otherwise people tend not to notice certain adverse implications that their contemplated actions can lead to until after they have taken their action. The words fusion and confusion are deeply linked. If over-repeated, this constantly repeated fact — Israel has the right to defend itself — can easily lead to perceptual confusion. It requires extra care and attention to avoid the illusion created by our human tendency to conflate two very different facts into the same perceptual space. Because this can so easily result in deflecting or obscuring our attention away from facing a fact that we are unknowingly trying to avoid fully facing. Or avoiding the uncomfortable responsibility of having to take the actions that are necessary for the preservation of integrity and overall justice. Wishing you much future success in the important role you have been entrusted with. Eddie O'Brien, Director of The Thinking Centre, Clonmel, Co Tipperary Welcome for Rose Here, in Portland, our version of the Rose of Tralee is called the Rose Festival. The new Queen of Rosaria, Ava Rathi, plans to attend Trinity in the autumn. Will the Government of Ireland demand access to her social media accounts? I kind of doubt it. Bill Gallagher, Portland, Oregon, US Read More Letters to the Editor: Death trap food aid centres in Gaza
The Irish Sun
15 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Major search for missing aircraft that sent panicked mayday call before vanishing near UK beach as helicopter deployed
A FRANTIC search has been launched to find an aircraft after crew activated a mayday beacon before vanishing. The distress signal went off close to Hemsby Gap shoreline, in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, this afternoon. Humber Coastguard confirmed the alarm was raised at around 12.34pm. The aircraft had been spotted above the sea on FlightRadar24, but has since disappeared and is feared to have crashed. There are four Hembsy Lifeboats at the scene at present, with officials saying the search could continue for " a while". A helicopter is also involved in the frantic rescue operation. Read More Norfolk Constabulary and ambulance services arrived at the scene at just before 4pm. It is not known how many people were on the aircraft, nor any details of the plane itself. A spokeswoman for Hemsby Lifeboat helm, said: 'We are still doing a search of the area, a boxed search. 'The last known location is two to three nautical miles offfshore at Hemsby Gap.' Most read in The Sun It is still unknown if there have been any fatalities or injuries. 1 An aircraft is feared to have crashed off the coast of Hemsby Gap Credit: Alamy
