Plane crash in Mumbai's Ghatkopar kills five, injures two: Eyewitnesses say they thought it was a bomb blast

Five persons were killed when a chartered aircraft on a test flight crashed in the crowded Mumbai suburb of Ghatkopar on Thursday afternoon, police said. According to the police, those killed include two pilots and as many flight engineers on board, besides a pedestrian in the Ghatkopar area where it crashed. The names of four of the five persons who lost their lives are Maria Kuber (pilot), Pradeep Rajput (co-pilot), technician Surabhi and another technician, Manish Pandey, according to The Indian Express. The names of two injured, as reported by ABP News, are Luvkush Kumar and Naresh Kumar Nishad. The King Air C90 12-seater aircraft, which took off from the Juhu airstrip, crashed in the Jagruti Nagar area of Ghatkopar, police said. A team of officials of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) rushed to the crash site for an investigation, an official said. [caption id=“attachment_4620981” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Rescue personnel at the site of the crash in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar. PTI[/caption] The police, fire brigade and disaster management teams rushed to the spot. Bodies of those killed were taken to the nearby Rajawadi hospital in Ghatkopar, an official said. ABP News reported that the plane’s black box has been recovered from the crash site. A fire brigade official said, “Our control room got a call at 1.15 pm informing us about a plane crash. Our jawans were immediately rushed at the site to launch the rescue operation. Four fire engines and as many water tankers were rushed to douse the fire that occurred after the plane crashed.” According to eyewitnesses, they thought it was a bomb blast. “We heard two explosions. We thought it was a blast,” eyewitnesses told TV channels. Union civil aviation minister Suresh Prabhu reacted to the incident, saying, “Saddened to hear the news about the aircraft crash in Mumbai. Have directed DGCA to conduct an investigation into the plane crash at the earliest. I’m in constant touch with on ground developments.” Plane sold by Uttar Pradesh government to private company in 2014 The Uttar Pradesh government said the plane which crashed was sold by the state government to a private company in 2014. “This aircraft was not that of the Uttar Pradesh government. It was sold in 2014 to a private company UY Aviation,” Principal Secretary, Information, Avinish Awasthi said. “The aircraft was with the government till 2014. It was sold to UY Aviation of Mumbai. It is currently neither owned nor operated by the Uttar Pradesh government,” he added. He was reacting to reports in a section of the media that the plane belonged to the Uttar Pradesh government.Pictures of the plane showed that it carried the logo of the Uttar Pradesh government. With inputs from PTI