Members of the Court of Inquiry appointed by the Union government into the May 22 Air India Express flight crash visited the crash site here on Monday.
The Court of Inquiry aims to do a “serious and sincere job” of the investigation into the crash, Air Marshal (retd.) Bhushan Nilkanth Gokhale, who will conduct the inquiry, told journalists at the crash site. The team arrived at the Mangalore airport in the afternoon and spent nearly half an hour at the crash site.
Terming the incident a tragedy, Mr. Gokhale said: “We are here to do a serious and sincere job and pass on the lessons learned from this tragedy.”
Mr. Gokhale said the government would soon set up a website on the latest developments of the investigation. The court had been asked to complete the investigation by August 31, but it would be done “as soon as possible,” he said.
Discussing the progress of the court, Mr. Gokhale said it had studied the data collected by various agencies such as the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation and the United States National Transport and Safety Board.
On the recovery of data from the black box, Mr. Gokhale acknowledged that the device had been damaged: “It has been sent to the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer), and data from it can be recovered.” The other court members who visited the spot were the former Executive Director of AAI, Gurcharan Bhatura, Executive Vice-President, GoAir, and the former Director of Indian Airlines, Babu Peter, the former DGCA officer, S.S. Nat, and secretary of the court S.N. Dwivedi.
Sabrina discharged
The only woman survivor of the Air India Express crash of May 22, Sabrina Nasrin Haq (23), was discharged from the A.J. Hospital and Research Centre here on Monday.
Six of the eight survivors admitted to different hospitals have been discharged so far.
Of the remaining two, Puttur Ismal Abdulla (35) is in K.S. Hegde Hospital. He has minor burns and one of his knees has been hurt. Ummer Farooq Muhammed (26) is undergoing treatment for burns on his face and hands at A.J. Hospital.
Ms. Sabrina was returning from the United Arab Emirates after visiting her family to complete the last few months of her MBBS course at Kasturba Medical College, Manipal. She fractured her left leg, sprained her right ankle and had some minor injuries in the crash.
Ms. Sabrina is the fifth person considered well enough to leave the hospital and recuperate at home.
The first three to be discharged were Mayankutty from Kannur, Krishnan Koolikkunnu from Uduna, near Kasaragod, and Pradeep Kotian from Thannirbhavi, near the city.
Mohammed Usman (Unity Hospital) and Joel Pratap D'Souza (Kasturbal Medical College Hospital) were sent home about a week ago.
A resident of Vamanjoor here, Joel (24), is recuperating at home.
With his right knee in a cast and a minor spinal injury, Joel requires bed rest.
