India plane crash: fuel supply to engines was cut off - unlikely to have been accidental

A preliminary report on the crash of an Air India Boeing Dreamliner in Ahmedabad has revealed that three seconds after take-off, the fuel switches of the aircraft's engine compartment switched off and the engine was left without fuel, writes Channel News Asia, BBC and CNN.

Investigators were able to determine that both fuel switches switched to the cut-off position just seconds after the aircraft took off," the report said.

It is pointed out that usually such a mode is switched on only during landing. In the case of the Air India flight, it led to a fuel cut-off and complete loss of engine power.

The report also released a transcript of the conversation between the pilots after the switch problem was discovered. One of them asked the other why he had flipped the switch to the cut-off position, to which the other replied that he had not done so.

The switches were later returned to the normal flight position and they attempted to restart the engines. One of them began to regain thrust, but the second had not had time to gain power by the time of the accident.

A few seconds after the restart, one of the pilots signalled an alarm to the air traffic controller. He asked for the aircraft's call sign but received no response, having already watched the aircraft go down near the airport.

India's Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has not ruled out sabotage while looking into the causes of the crash.

Aircraft crash in India

on 12 June, a passenger plane crashed in Ahmedabad, in western India. The crash occurred shortly after takeoff: the plane failed to gain altitude and crashed into residential buildings.

According to Air India, there were 242 people on board - passengers and crew (10 flight attendants and two pilots). Among the passengers were 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, one Canadian national and seven Portuguese nationals.

The only survivor was British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh. He suffered multiple injuries all over his body.

According to Business Insider, the aircraft with registration number VT-ANB became Air India's aircraft of choice in 2014. This crash was the first of its kind for the Boeing 787, which has traditionally been considered one of the safest passenger airliners.