Aviation ministry officials call Capt Singh’s allegations baseless

A day after an aviation professional and a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) in London raised questions about tampering of evidences from the accident spot at Kozhikode International Airport, officials from the ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) termed the allegations as baseless.

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Captain Amit Singh, on August 17, wrote to the ministry demanding a court of inquiry into the Kozhikode Air India Express plane accident citing that stills from videos played by local media allegedly indicated tampering of evidences.

The aircraft VT- AHX operating from Dubai to Kozhikode crashed inside the airport perimeter at 7.40pm on August 7. After the accident was reported, locals, airport staff and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) rescued the passengers. Ministry officials said CISF team cordoned off the area with thick Manila ropes on the night itself.

A MoCA spokesperson said, “Insinuation of tampering of evidence is baseless. It shows total ignorance of the individual about the investigation process, insensitivity to the deceased, and lack of respect for villagers. The current team of experts from AAIB (Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau) and its experts are fully competent to investigate the accident.”

According to an Air India Express official based in Delhi, the Go Team of AAIB had departed for the accident site by a special flight at 2.30am on August 8 and had reached the crash site by 6am. “The site, at that time, was cordoned off in the required manner and was guarded by CISF personnel,” the official said.

An official present at the accident site said that immediate photos and videos of the wreckage were taken in ‘as is where is’ condition.

“The documents and specific items were collected and preserved for investigation. The aircraft wreckage was packed and sealed on Sunday, August 9, and this activity was photographed. Ever since its occurrence, the wreckage is being guarded by CISF personnel as per their mandate,” he added.

Senior Air India officials had also asked for suggestions on how to stop people from taking photographs while officials are busy in rescue operations to save lives of the passengers and crew.

“Assuming the worst-case scenario during the rescue, even if any switches got moved from their position unintentionally while extricating both pilots from the cockpit, investigation would corroborate evidence with CVR, DFDR data. At that critical juncture, it is more important to save lives which the villagers and other locals along with CISF rightly did,” the airline official said.