Air India crash preliminary report to be released next week, will reveal possible causes

The document, which is likely to be four to five pages long, will be crucial because it will provide initial insights into the crash, including the possible causes.

NDTV, quoting sources, said the report will include details about the aircraft, which was a Boeing Dreamliner 787-8, the crew, conditions at the Ahmedabad airport, and the weather on June 12, when Air India flight 171 crashed, roughly 30 seconds after takeoff.

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), meanwhile, is investigating all possible causes, including sabotage, behind last month’s Air India crash in Ahmedabad that killed 274 people on board and on the ground, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol has said.

Speaking to NDTV during the Pune chapter of the Emerging Business Conclave, Mohol said, “It (plane crash) was an unfortunate incident. The AAIB has begun a full investigation into it... It is being probed from all angles, including any possible sabotage. The CCTV footage are being reviewed and all angles are being assessed... several agencies are working on it.”

The black box of the ill-fated London-bound Air India flight AI 171, which crashed on June 12, is in the custody of AAIB and will not be sent overseas, the minister added.

“It will not go anywhere. It is in AAIB's custody and there is no need to send it outside. We will do the entire investigation,” he said.

On June 12, a London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed just seconds after taking off from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport around 1.30 pm, killing all but one of the 242 passengers and crew on board.

The aircraft lost altitude shortly after takeoff and crashed into the residential quarters of doctors from BJ Medical College in the Meghaninagar area.

It went up in flames, sending thick black smoke into the sky.

The crash left 34 people dead on the ground.