Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Sunday demanded that Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri explain to the country the reasons for the Dubai-Kozhikode plane crash, and said anyone found responsible for the accident should be punished.
An Air India Express flight from Dubai with 190 people onboard overshot the runway at Kozhikode airport in Kerala on Friday and went down a slope before breaking into two.
Choudhury, in a video message from New Delhi, said the department should form a high-powered committee to probe the plane crash, which claimed at least 18 lives.
“The committee must find out what led to the tragedy and punishment should be meted out to anyone found responsible… The minister should explain to the people of India what caused the accident and responsibility should be fixed,” Choudhury said.
Asserting that the two pilots “did their best to save precious lives”, the senior Congress leader said, “I wonder what maintenance engineers and inspectors were up to…
“The pilot (Deepak V Sathe) was such a highly qualified personnel having decades of experience but he couldn”t save himself. His co-pilot (Akhilesh Kumar) also died in the accident. They had to crash land the plane, and pay with their lives to save many others.”
Puri said on Saturday that an inquiry has been ordered under the Aircraft Act in the Kozhikode accident and findings of the investigation will be made public.
He also visited the site of the accident to take stock of the relief measures.
Scheduled international passenger flights continue to remain suspended in India since March 23 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Special repatriation flights, however, were being operated by Air India and Air India Express under the Vande Bharat Mission to help stranded people reach their destinations. Private carriers have also flown under this mission.
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