Probe into Air India crash in Ahmedabad looking at all angles: MoS Mohol

AHMEDABAD / NEW DELHI:
Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Murlidhar Mohol, on Sunday (June 29, 2025), said that investigators are examining “all angles”, including possible sabotage, in the tragic Air India crash that killed more than 240 people in Ahmedabad earlier this month.

Speaking to NDTV in an interview, Mr. Mohol urged caution against jumping to conclusions about the cause of the disaster until the final investigation report is complete.

“It would be premature to comment on the cause before the investigation report is published,” the minister said, responding to questions about whether sabotage could have played a role.

Over 260 fatalities, including on-ground casualties

The Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, operating with 242 people on board, crashed in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025. Only one person on the aircraft is known to have survived. Authorities have also identified 19 fatalities on the ground, but a police source told AFP that the total toll on the ground may have reached 38, bringing the overall death toll to around 279.

The crash has shaken India’s aviation industry and prompted urgent calls for clarity on what went wrong with a modern wide-body jet widely used on international routes.

Minister highlights “unprecedented” engine failure theories

Mr. Mohol acknowledged that investigators are also examining theories of dual-engine failure, which some experts have suggested as a possibility in early analyses.

“It has never happened before that both engines have shut off together,” he noted, pointing to the unprecedented nature of such a scenario for a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which is designed with multiple redundancy systems to avoid total power loss.

Industry experts have stressed that such an event would be extremely rare without external factors like fuel contamination, catastrophic maintenance failure, or deliberate sabotage.

Investigation underway with black boxes retrieved

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has appointed an expert team to investigate the accident, working in coordination with Boeing, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and local aviation authorities.

Earlier this week, the team began extracting data from the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (FDR), crucial devices often referred to as “black boxes” in aviation.

These recorders will allow investigators to reconstruct the final moments of the flight, including cockpit conversations, instrument readings, engine parameters, and system warnings.

Officials said the analysis of these recorders will be key to determining whether the crash was due to mechanical failure, pilot error, weather conditions, or any deliberate act of sabotage.

Air India defends maintenance, pilots’ credentials

Air India, which is now owned by the Tata Group, has maintained that the aircraft was “well-maintained” and flown by experienced pilots.

In a statement released after the crash, the airline said:

“The aircraft was maintained according to all regulatory requirements and manufacturer recommendations. Our pilots were highly trained and had thousands of hours of combined flying experience.”

The airline has pledged full cooperation with the investigation, while also expressing condolences to the families of the victims.

Impact on aviation safety discourse

The crash, one of India’s worst in recent memory, has reignited debates about aviation safety standards in the country.

India’s aviation sector is among the fastest-growing in the world, with hundreds of new aircraft on order and an expanding network of domestic and international routes.

But the sector has also faced challenges in ensuring uniform maintenance standards across carriers, addressing pilot fatigue concerns, and managing crowded airspace.

Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu and MoS Murlidhar Mohol have both assured the public that the government will act on the investigation’s recommendations to strengthen safety standards further.

Families await answers

For the families of those killed, the wait for answers is painful. Many have demanded a transparent, independent probe and support from the government in managing compensation and repatriation of remains.

Authorities have promised that victim identification and repatriation will be handled with care and dignity, even as the investigation moves forward.

Conclusion

As the probe continues, the Civil Aviation Ministry has appealed for patience, urging the public and media not to speculate about the cause until the final report is ready.

The ministry says all angles — from mechanical issues to human factors and sabotage — remain on the table.

“Our priority is to ensure a thorough, professional investigation so such a tragedy never happens again,” Minister Mohol said.

 

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