Government rejects foreign report claiming Air India Flight 171 pilots intentionally cut fuel; investigation still underway, says Civil Aviation Minister Murlidhar Mohol, as AAIB calls findings speculative and families, pilots’ body demand wider scrutiny into Ahmedabad crash that killed 260 people
After Indian investigators submitted the final report on the crash of Air India Flight 171 in Ahmedabad, which claimed the pilots “intentionally turned off” the aircraft’s fuel switches, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol dismissed a foreign media report on the findings, stating that the investigation is still underway.
Final report not published yet
“I just want to inform you all that our investigation agencies are probing the matter. Should we have faith in our own agencies or outsiders? Our agencies are working on it,” he was quoted as saying on Saturday by news agency PTI.
“Once the final report is finalised, then only it will be justifiable to comment on it,” he added.
The report published in Corriere della Sera said that Indian investigators are preparing to state in their final investigation report that Air India Flight 171 crashed because one of the pilots switched off the aircraft’s fuel switches in an act that was “almost certainly” intentional.
It is still not known if the final report will directly assign blame. The person at the centre of the matter is the plane’s pilot, Sumeet Sabharwal, who died in the crash, the report said.
The report also said that sound analysis clearly showed which pilot carried out the fatal move. It further ruled out the chance of an error, the newspaper said.
Report ‘incorrect and speculative’
However, the Indian pilots’ association and Sabharwal’s family have slammed the way the investigation is going, insisting that the probe has been designed to pin the blame on the pilots for the tragedy. The family went on to urge the authorities to conduct more scrutiny on the aircraft maker, the airline and other factors.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said reports claiming that the investigation into the Air India Flight AI-171 crash has been completed are “incorrect and speculative”.
“The investigation is still in progress. No final conclusions have been reached,” it added.
In one of India’s deadliest air accidents, 260 people, including 241 passengers, died when Air India’s Boeing 787-8 aircraft operating flight AI171 to London crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025.
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