Day After crash, search for the Black Box on, relatives grieve

Ramnath Shenoy and C S Narayana Kutty
Mangalore, May 23 (PTI) Investigators Sunday sifted
through the charred wreckage of the Boeing 737 plane of Air
India's budget carrier for the cockpit voice and the flight
data recorder--the Black Box--that could give vital clues for
the cause of its crash that killed 158 persons.
A senior Airport Authority of India official meanwhile
said an "incorrect" flight path could have caused the crash of
the Air India Express aircraft from Dubai at Bajpe airport
here in Mangalore city in south India Saturday.
The official, who visited the crash site, told PTI, "An
incorrect flight path could have been a possible reason (for
Saturday's mishap)."
The probe by a big team of experts including from the
Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) into the crash
resumed at the crack of the dawn with the wreckage area
cordoned off, as grieving relatives collected the victims'
remains in the worst air disaster in India in 14 years. Eight
passengers miraculously survived.
According to unconfirmed reports, the throttle in the
cockpit was retrieved by investigations and was found in a
forward position suggesting that the pilot may have attempted
a final thrust before the crash.
The Boeing 737-800 with a British national of Serbian
origin in command overshot the 'table-top' runway and plunged
into a ravine and burst into flames. There were 166 passengers
and crew on board. Several victims were from Kasaragod and
Kannur districts of neighbouring Kerala state in south India.
Investigators used mechanical metal-cutters to search
for the Black Box in the twisted wreckage of the barely
three-year-old plane's remains. Heavy machinery was also being
used to clear the debris scattered over a wide area.
Despite rescue teams being at the spot along with fire
fighters and police personnel, they are to recover the black
box nearly 30 hours after the crash. The Black Box has crucial
last-minute recordings of conversation between the cockpit
crew and the Air Traffic Control (ATC).
All 158 bodies have been recovered but only 72 have been
identified and handed over to relatives, Air India
spokesperson Harpreet Singh De said in Mumbai.
Karnataka DGP Ajai Kumar Singh said at the crash site
that bodies of 104 victims of the crash have been identified
and handed over to relatives.
Forensic scientists were carrying out DNA tests on the
remaining bodies for their identity.
Dozens of grieving relatives arrived here on a special
Air India flight from Dubai and Karnataka and Kerala states in
south India to take back home the bodies of their loved ones.
A team of experts arrived here this morning from
Hyderabad to conduct DNA test to help in identification of
bodies charred beyond recognition
At the hospitals, relatives of the victims were seen
trying hard to identify their loved ones with their faces
covered with masks.
Saturday's disaster was the country's deadliest crash
since 1996 when two passenger planes collided in mid-air near
New Delhi with the loss of all 349 on board both flights.
The last major plane crash in India was in 2000, when 61
people were killed after a passenger jet plunged into a
residential area near Patna.
US-based aircraft manufacturer Boeing said it was
sending a team of investigators to India to help in the
inquiry.
India's Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel had said
the aircraft did not contain itself within the limited space
on touchdown and overshot the spillover area on the runway.
He had also stated that the runway was operationally
compliant and technically fit for operating an aircraft of
Boeing 737-800 series and the plane was just two-and-a-half
years old with no history of defects or malfunctioning. PTI RS
MRD