Black Box recovered from AI171 crash site; extended checks ordered on Boeing 787 fleet: Ram Mohan Naidu

Union Minister of Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu, in a presser held today, said that all aspects of the crash will be analysed from all possible angles by a high-level committee, which will conduct the investigation. "Any information that is going around this crash, any theory that is going around this crash, everything will be analysed, and the high-level committee is going to do its own investigation, which is going to be independent of all the other investigations that are going to happen. Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is going to be the technical side of the investigation, which will be very much core to what we are trying to do in finding out what exactly happened. And the high-level committee is also going to meet very soon," Naidu said.

Offering deepest condolences to all the families who lost their loved ones in the incident, the minister said the accident that happened near Ahmedabad airport shook the entire nation. He also said the 5-member AAIB team was immediately rushed to the site to investigate the crash and that it had recovered the "black box" from the site at 5 pm on Friday.

"One important update from the technical investigation, which is happening through the AAIB, is the recovery of the black box yesterday around 5 p.m. from the site. The AAIB team believes that this decoding of the black box is going to give in-depth insight into what would have happened during the process of the crash or moments before the crash itself," the minister said.

The Union minister said the government has formed another high-level committee under the chairmanship of the Home Secretary. "We wanted to have experts in the committee from various sectors and not less than a joint secretary level. We felt it would be much better to have another committee also overseeing this crash and also the safety.”

He said the home secretary-led committee has been given 3 months' time to come up with a comprehensive report.

He said India has very strict safety standards, which have been established by organisations like the ICAO time and again. "We do have a very strict protocol, robust protocol which we follow every time.

The minister also called for extended surveillance of the Boeing 787 series. "There is a need to do an extended surveillance of the Boeing 787 series. So, from the DGCA we have also given an order to do the extended surveillance for the 787 planes. There are 34 in our Indian aircraft fleet today.”

He said 8 have already been inspected, and with immediate urgency, all of them are going to be probed. "Whatever necessary steps are needed to be taken, we are going to ensure that without any hesitation, we are going to improve every necessary thing that is going to come our way to improve the safety."

As per the minister, DNA testing is also happening so the bodies can be identified and given to the respective families. “Any information that is going around this crash, any theory that is going around this crash, everything will be analysed, and the high-level committee is going to do its own investigation.”

In one of the most tragic aviation incidents, Air India Flight AI-171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, crashed near Ahmedabad International Airport (AMD) shortly after take-off on June 12, 2025. Of the 242 occupants, only one passenger survived. Following the impact on the ground, the death toll has reached 270, as many of those who were injured have succumbed to their injuries.