Air India crash: One year on, no final report timeline as families of 260 victims seek answers

AHMEDABAD, June 13 — Indian investigators said yesterday they were still analysing evidence from last year’s Air ‌India Boeing 787 crash and gave no timeline for a final report, as families of the 260 victims pressed for answers on the disaster’s first anniversary.

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said it had made “significant progress” examining aircraft systems, flight recorder data, engine components, maintenance and operational records.

It did not provide a timeline for the final report, saying it would be issued only after all investigative work is completed and required international reviews are carried out.

The update, one year after the June 12, 2025 crash, was met with scepticism from some families, who gathered in Ahmedabad to mourn the victims.

‘Extensive and rigorous examination’

“It’s been 365 days since the incident. The government should have been able to tell us the root cause of the ‌crash,” Tanay Gajjar, who lost his mother Jaya, told Reuters.

The Air India Dreamliner crashed shortly after take-off ⁠from Ahmedabad in the worst global aviation disaster in ⁠a decade.

Reuters reported last month that investigators were likely to delay a ⁠final report and instead issue only ⁠an interim update, given the ⁠probe’s complexity. A source said on Thursday the delay was tied to completing an analysis of the plane’s engines.

Under international rules, a final report is due “if possible” within a year of an accident, but if this ⁠is not met, authorities should issue an interim statement on each anniversary.

The AAIB said it had undertaken “an extensive and rigorous examination” of all technical, operational, organisational and human factors over the past one year.

Mourning

More than 250 relatives, representing over 100 victims, gathered at a hotel in Ahmedabad to share memories and hold a candlelight vigil.

Vihar Parikh, 18, who lost his grandfather Chaitanya Parikh in the crash, said the family had yet ⁠to receive his phone and belongings.

Investigators have not determined the cause of the crash. A preliminary report last year showed the Boeing 787’s engine fuel control switches moved almost simultaneously from ‘RUN’ ⁠to ‘CUTOFF’, starving both engines of fuel shortly after Flight AI171 took off for London.

A cockpit voice recording supported the ⁠view that ⁠the captain cut fuel flow to the engines, according to an early assessment by US officials reported by Reuters last year.

In an interview aired by the BBC this week, Pushkar Raj Sabharwal, father of captain Sumeet Sabharwal, pushed back against ‌suggestions his son could be blamed.

He said his son had flown the aircraft for years with an incident-free record. “How can you blame him?” he said. — Reuters