Latest news with #planeCrash
CNN
36 minutes ago
- General
- CNN
Some Air India victims' families in UK were sent wrong remains, lawyer says
FacebookTweetLink Authorities in India sent the wrong remains to some British families whose loved ones were killed in a plane crash last month, their lawyer has claimed, as relatives reckoned with the human cost of the world's deadliest aviation accident in a decade. At least two UK nationals were discovered to have been misidentified after they were repatriated, according to James Healy-Pratt, an international aviation lawyer who is representing some of the British relatives of victims. In one case, a coroner in London discovered that the DNA of several bodies had been co-mingled in one of the caskets, Healy-Pratt told UK news agency PA Media. Dr Fiona Shaw 'picked up DNA anomalies' when the bodies were first repatriated, Healy-Pratt said. 'My understanding was that the co-mingling was at the very beginning, which alerted Dr Wilcox to the fact that she had to be 100% assiduous about checking the identification of the incoming remains,' the lawyer added. 'She was then able to determine that one particular loved one was not at all who the family thought they were,' said Healy-Pratt. All but one of 242 passengers and crew members were killed on June 12, after an Air India jet lost momentum and hurtled into a densely populated neighborhood in Ahmedabad, western India. The London-bound aircraft had barely left the runway of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport before it spun out of control and nosedived into the BJ Medical College and Hospital hostel – also killing 19 people on the ground. Authorities have not yet released the definitive cause of the crash, but a preliminary report suggested that the fuel control switches in the cockpit of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner had been flipped, depriving the engines of power. In an audio recording from the black box, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why he flipped the switches, according to the assessment by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau published last week. The other pilot responds that he did not. Moments later, the switches were flipped to turn the fuel supply back on. Both engines relit and one began to 'progress to recovery,' but it was too late to halt the plane's tumultuous descent. Of those killed on board, at least 169 were Indian nationals, seven were Portuguese and one was from Canada. The only survivor was Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, one of 53 UK passengers that day who told local media that he escaped by clinging onto a small space near the door by his seat. The relatives of three victims said they were 'deeply troubled' by the revelations on Wednesday, calling on authorities to act with 'care, co-ordination and respect.' 'Recent developments have only confirmed what many feared: that serious mistakes may have been made, and that the dignity and rights of victims and their families were not safeguarded as they should have been,' they said in a statement. The relatives of Akeel Nanabawa, his wife Hannaa Vorajee and their four-year-old daughter Sara Nanabawa added that while they are 'confident' they received the 'correct bodies' - they were still 'deeply troubled by what this means for other families who may still be searching for certainty and closure.' 'This isn't just a personal tragedy; it is a collective one.' India's foreign ministry had been 'working closely with the UK side from the moment these concerns and issues' were raised, according to a spokesperson. Authorities conducted identification of victims using 'established protocols and technical requirements,' foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a post on X on Wednesday. 'All mortal remains were handled with the utmost professionalism and with due regard for the dignity of the deceased,' Jaiswal added. 'We are continuing to work with the UK authorities on addressing any concerns related to this issue.' The case came on the heels of a meeting in London between India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart, Keir Starmer, as the two nations sign a landmark free trade agreement. Healy-Pratt, who is demanding 'financial justice' for the families, said he believes the allegations will be on the agenda for the talks this week.
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Plane crashes onto busy motorway exploding into a fireball
This is the horrifying moment a small plane nosedived and crashed into a busy motorway in Italy, leaving at least two people dead. Footage captured the moment the plane smashed into the road in Italy's Brescia province and exploded into a fireball, with vehicles forced to drive through the flames. The aircraft was completely destroyed, with no one on board surviving the accident. The pair killed were a 75-year-old man and a 60-year-old woman, according to reports. They are understood to have departed from the town of Gragnano Trebbiense. Two motorists were reportedly injured when the plane exploded and were treated at a nearby hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. An inferno ripped through the site of the crash, leading to the suspension of traffic on the A21 motorway junction between Corda Molle and Ospitale. Emergency services rushed to the scene, while firefighters contained the blaze. An investigation has been launched to establish the cause of the tragedy. Meanwhile, the public prosecutor's office of Brescia has opened a case for manslaughter, local newspaper Giornale di Brescia reported. The horrific accident comes just days after an air force fighter jet crashed into a school in Bangladesh and killed 31 people, at least 25 of them children. The children, many aged under 12, were about to return home from class on Monday when the Chinese-manufactured F-7 BGI Bangladesh Air Force jet ploughed into their school in Dhaka and burst into flames, trapping pupils in the fire and debris. The military said it had suffered mechanical failure. Television footage showed fire and smoke billowing from the site of the crash as bystanders are seen trying to put out the flames. Other clips circulating on social media show crowds of students fleeing from the scene in a panic. It also comes a little over a month after an Air India plane crashed on top of a medical college hostel in neighbouring India's Ahmedabad city, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 on the ground, marking the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade. A preliminary report into the crash found that fuel switches for the engines of the doomed Boeing 787 Dreamliner began to lose thrust and sink down moments after setting off to London from the Indian city on June 12.
New York Times
4 hours ago
- General
- New York Times
Plane in Alaska Crash Was Overloaded With Moose Meat and Antlers, N.T.S.B. Says
A small plane that crashed in rural Alaska in 2023, killing the husband of a congresswoman, was weighed down by too much moose meat and faced drag from a set of antlers mounted on its right wing strut, federal investigators said on Tuesday. The plane, a single-engine Piper PA-18-150 Super Cub, crashed shortly after takeoff in a mountainous area of southwestern Alaska on Sept. 12, 2023. Only the pilot, Eugene Peltola Jr., 57, the husband of former U.S. Representative Mary Peltola of Alaska, was onboard and died in the crash. 'The overweight airplane and the added drag and lateral weight imbalance caused by the antlers on the right wing,' along with downdrafts, 'would likely have resulted in the airplane having insufficient power and/or control authority to maneuver above terrain,' the National Transportation Safety Board said in its report on probable cause findings. There were also turbulent flight conditions in the area of the crash at 8:45 p.m., the time when the plane went down, the report said. Mr. Peltola had taken a group of hunters and equipment days earlier from Holy Cross, a community of about 200 people near the Yukon River, to an airstrip nearly 100 miles northwest in St. Mary's, Alaska, the agency said in its final report on the crash. The group set up camp next to the runway in St. Mary's, the report said. One day before the crash, the group bagged a moose and Mr. Peltola was asked to transport the meat. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CNN
5 hours ago
- General
- CNN
Too much moose meat and antlers caused a plane crash in Alaska that killed congresswoman's husband, the NTSB reports
Too much moose meat and antlers strapped to a wing caused a deadly small plane crash in Alaska, a nearly two-year long investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board determined in a report released Tuesday. The small Piper PA-18 plane had taken a group of hunters to a remote wilderness area near St. Mary's, Alaska on September 12, 2023, where they killed a moose, the report said. The first flight to ferry the meat to a larger airport was successful, but on a second trip the plane crashed just after takeoff. The hunters provided the pilot, who was the only person onboard the plane, with first aid, but he died a short time later. CNN previously reported the pilot killed was Eugene 'Buzzy' Peltola Jr., the husband of Mary Peltola, who represented Alaska in the US House from 2022 to 2025. He also served as the regional director of the Alaska Bureau of Indian Affairs for several years before retiring in 2022. Investigators determined the plane was loaded with 520 pounds of cargo – which was 117 pounds more than the plane could handle. Besides moose meat, the aircraft also had a set of antlers strapped to the wing. While it is a allowed to hang antlers on aircraft wings in Alaska, the NTSB found the required formal Federal Aviation Administration approval for the practice had not been granted for this plane. The NTSB's report concluded that the cause of the crash was the excess weight and the 'unapproved external load' of the antlers, which 'degraded takeoff performance and flight characteristics' leading to a loss of control. The plane itself was more than 70 years old, but so many pieces had been replaced 'almost none of the original airplane existed,' the NTSB report said. The day before the crash Rep. Peltola attended a September 11 commemoration in Anchorage with President Joe Biden and flew with him to Washington, DC on Air Force One. 'Buzzy was a devoted public servant,' Biden said at the time of the crash. 'He is being remembered as a friend to all. But we know he was, first and always, the adored and devoted husband and father to a family now in pain.'
CNN
5 hours ago
- General
- CNN
Too much moose meat and antlers caused a plane crash in Alaska that killed congresswoman's husband, the NTSB reports
Too much moose meat and antlers strapped to a wing caused a deadly small plane crash in Alaska, a nearly two-year long investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board determined in a report released Tuesday. The small Piper PA-18 plane had taken a group of hunters to a remote wilderness area near St. Mary's, Alaska on September 12, 2023, where they killed a moose, the report said. The first flight to ferry the meat to a larger airport was successful, but on a second trip the plane crashed just after takeoff. The hunters provided the pilot, who was the only person onboard the plane, with first aid, but he died a short time later. CNN previously reported the pilot killed was Eugene 'Buzzy' Peltola Jr., the husband of Mary Peltola, who represented Alaska in the US House from 2022 to 2025. He also served as the regional director of the Alaska Bureau of Indian Affairs for several years before retiring in 2022. Investigators determined the plane was loaded with 520 pounds of cargo – which was 117 pounds more than the plane could handle. Besides moose meat, the aircraft also had a set of antlers strapped to the wing. While it is a allowed to hang antlers on aircraft wings in Alaska, the NTSB found the required formal Federal Aviation Administration approval for the practice had not been granted for this plane. The NTSB's report concluded that the cause of the crash was the excess weight and the 'unapproved external load' of the antlers, which 'degraded takeoff performance and flight characteristics' leading to a loss of control. The plane itself was more than 70 years old, but so many pieces had been replaced 'almost none of the original airplane existed,' the NTSB report said. The day before the crash Rep. Peltola attended a September 11 commemoration in Anchorage with President Joe Biden and flew with him to Washington, DC on Air Force One. 'Buzzy was a devoted public servant,' Biden said at the time of the crash. 'He is being remembered as a friend to all. But we know he was, first and always, the adored and devoted husband and father to a family now in pain.'
