Air India crash: Indian investigators told lawmakers black boxes undamaged, say sources
Members of Indian Army's engineering arm prepare to remove the wreckage of an Air India aircraft, bound for London's Gatwick Airport, which crashed during take-off from an airport in Ahmedabad, India on June 14, 2025.
NEW DELHI - Indian investigators of the deadly Air India airliner crash that killed 260 in June told a meeting of lawmakers that the plane's black boxes were not damaged, two people familiar with the discussions said.
The revelation about the devices critical to reconstructing the events leading up to an air crash, comes after Indian media said they were damaged when the London-bound Boeing Dreamliner crashed on June 12, to erupt in a massive fireball.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has also been able to extract "good data" from the black boxes, its officials told lawmakers on July 9 during a parliamentary panel meeting on aviation, added one of the sources.
Both sources declined to be identified as the discussions are private. The AAIB and India's aviation ministry did not respond to Reuters queries.
The plane's cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR), as the black boxes are formally known, were recovered in the days after the crash, one from a rooftop at the site on June 13, and the other from debris on June 16.
The preliminary report from investigation into the crash is likely to be made public by July 11, Reuters has previously reported.
The crash investigation had narrowed its focus to the movement of the plane's fuel control switches, and also focused, at least partly, on engine thrust issues, Reuters reported last month.
Air India has faced intense scrutiny since the crash. Its chief executive, Campbell Wilson, appeared before the committee and the airline gave updates on its efforts after the crash, one of the sources said.
The EU Aviation Safety Agency has said it plans to investigate the company's budget airline, Air India Express, after Reuters reported it did not follow a directive to change engine parts of an Airbus A320 in a timely manner and falsified records to show compliance.
India's aviation watchdog has also warned Air India for breaching rules for flying three Airbus planes with overdue checks on escape slides. REUTERS
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The last image Mr Delfard Tay has of his 19-year-old daughter Shermaine is a video of her stumbling out of their three-room flat in Tanjong Pagar. She looks unsteady in the footage, as she tries to get up from the sofa she slept on in the living room. It was a familiar sight – and Mr Tay knew she had used Kpod, a type of vape pod containing liquid laced with the powerful anaesthetic drug etomidate. For months in 2024, he had argued with his only child, urging her to quit using Kpods. He knew how destructive substance addiction could be – after all, he had criminal convictions for drug trafficking and other offences. Mr Tay, 43, said his daughter had been under drug supervision for using methamphetamine or Ice, which she had consumed at her boyfriend's home some time between 2023 and 2024. It was her first brush with the law, and she did not abuse drugs after that, he added. She then tried to convince him that Kpods were safe, but her addiction to them ended her life. 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'She wasn't looking up to me, but I really didn't know how to care for her as a single parent,' he said. 'My grandma and auntie took care of her.' When his daughter was about 10 months old, Mr Tay was imprisoned for drug trafficking. When she turned 14, he went back to prison. He spent a total of 10 years behind bars – over eight stints – for drug and gang-related offences from the age of 16. 'I'm not proud of it... I know I neglected her a lot of times,' he said. The teenager dropped out of school after Secondary 3 and promoted some products on social media. Troubling behaviour of Kpod abuse Mr Tay's story mirrors that of the mother of a 27-year-old man who became hooked on Kpods from October 2024. In an interview with Shin Min Daily News in June, the 56-year-old woman said she had to physically restrain her son after he came down from a vape-fuelled high and tried to jump out of the living room window. Security cameras installed in her home captured the distressing scene. During the violent struggle, her son scratched her neck. The woman, who was not identified, shared her story to remind other parents to pay more attention to their children and seek help if something is not right. In the past two months, netizens have posted numerous videos online showing young people shaking uncontrollably, purportedly after using Kpods. When ST showed Mr Tay a video clip from the internet of three intoxicated youths walking like zombies in Punggol, Mr Tay singled out one of them. [[nid:719505]] He said that whenever his daughter used Kpods, she walked in the same unsteady way, as if her joints were 'jammed'. In the days leading up to her death, she was quiet as usual and Mr Tay did not notice anything out of the ordinary. Although she suffered from an anxiety attack in 2019, there was no indication that she was depressed, according to Mr Tay. Lessons from loss Since his daughter's death, Mr Tay has been kept awake on some nights. 'Sometimes I can't sleep. I find myself thinking of her,' he said. 'I will busy myself with TikTok or playing computer games. When I close my eyes, I ask myself, 'Why didn't I do this or that (to help her)?'' Mr Tay will donate some of his daughter's clothes, but will keep her treasured make-up kit, scrapbook, letters and photos. Her birthday gift to him – a luxury-brand pouch and a set of Lilo & Stitch toys – are displayed in his office. Despite his jail time, Mr Tay has fond memories of his daughter growing up – from short breaks in Kuala Lumpur and a trip to Disneyland in Hong Kong after her PSLE. Photos show her smiling widely and, as her father recalled, she was always dancing with glee. In February, Mr Tay added a tattoo to the back of his left hand – an image of Crayon Shin-chan, a popular Japanese cartoon. His daughter often watched the show dubbed in Mandarin when she was a primary school pupil, while waiting for him to return from work. During the interview, Mr Tay sometimes turned silent, with his gaze fixed on the floor. 'I can't understand why she wanted to use this thing (Kpod),' he said. 'But when I think back... it was because of curiosity.' He recalled her saying that her urine would not test positive for any drug content. On Telegram, a post touted a 'convenient' way to get high, falsely claiming that drugs cannot be detected in urine tests. Some sellers claimed they also sold vape liquid with ketamine. A check by ST found that Kpods cost between $50 and $100. Mr Tay said police investigators told him that no drug content was found in his daughter during a post-mortem, but he did not receive any official document on this. [[nid:717961]] At her three-day wake, many of her friends from church and elsewhere turned up. 'Everyone was asking what happened, but I didn't have answers for them,' said Mr Tay. 'I was angry at first, but I don't blame any of Shermaine's friends for her death.' At the wake, he learnt that one of her friends had died from abusing Kpods in the same week. Mr Tay decided to share her story – and his regrets – so that other parents will know what to look out for. 'Teenagers from age 12 to 15 have access to mobile phones, and they have Telegram chats,' he said. 'Parents need to look into their (children's) mobile phones, know what kind of people they are mixing with, and that's quite important.' Mr Tay also wants young people to learn from Shermaine's death. 'I know you're curious about all these things (like Kpods),' he said. 'But do not try it. Once you cannot stop, you'll be in bondage to it for a long time, and it will not only affect you, but also your family members.' Samaritans of Singapore: 1800-221-4444 Singapore Association for Mental Health: 1800-283-7019 Institute of Mental Health's Mental Health Helpline: 6389-2222 Silver Ribbon: 6386-1928 Tinkle Friend: 1800-274-4788 Community Health Assessment Team: 6493-6500/1 Counselling TOUCHline (Counselling): 1800-377-2252 TOUCH Care Line (for seniors, caregivers): 6804-6555 Care Corner Counselling Centre (Mandarin): 1800-353-5800 Online resources This article was first published in The Straits Times . Permission required for reproduction.
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