In world news, Indian authorities in charge of investigating the crash of Air India flight 171 have issued an appeal for global media to stop publishing “premature narratives” on the disaster.
“It has come to our attention that certain sections of the international media are repeatedly attempting to draw conclusions through selective and unverified reporting,” the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said in a statement, released on Friday.
The mother of Clive Kunder, co-pilot of the Air India flight that crashed, mourns during a prayer meeting for Air India crew in Mumbai.Credit: AP
The bureau called the reporting “irresponsible, especially while the investigation remains ongoing”.
“We urge both the public and the media to refrain from spreading premature narratives that risk undermining the integrity of the investigative process.”
The appeal comes a day after The Wall Street Journal published a report that the plane’s captain, Sumeet Sabharwal, had cut off the fuel after the plane had taken off.
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Aviation experts speculated first officer Clive Kunder had asked Sabharwal why he had turned off the fuel, seconds before the plane plunged into a neighbourhood in Ahmedabad, killing 260 people on board and on the ground.
Indian authorities have been under pressure from the public since the accident to explain whether the crash was caused by the pilot, or there was a mechanical failure of some sort. Full investigations generally take a year or more.
The bureau’s preliminary report, released on July 11, was to provide information “about ‘WHAT’ happened”, it wrote on July 18.
“The preliminary report has to be seen in this light,” the bureau said. “At this stage, it is too early to reach to any definite conclusions.”