'Shouldn't arrive at conclusions': Govt says AAIB report not final, says probe still on

The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Saturday said that the report published by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is preliminary and urged that conclusions should not be made on the crash of the Air India flight until the final report is released.

MoS Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said, “The AAIB has brought out a preliminary report. This is not the final report. Until the final report comes out, we should not arrive at any conclusion. AAIB is an autonomous authority, and the ministry does not interfere in their work.”

#WATCH | On AAIB's preliminary report on AI 171 crash, MoS Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol says, "The AAIB has brought out a preliminary report. This is not the final report. Until the final report comes out, we should not arrive at any conclusion. AAIB is an autonomous… pic.twitter.com/ypIWnzb6Gt

— ANI (@ANI) July 12, 2025

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On Saturday, AAIB published its preliminary report on the crash of Air India flight from Ahmedabad to London, revealing that the mishap occurred after both engines had shut down seconds after takeoff.

Air India’s Boeing 787-8 plane that was operating flight AI 171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick on June 12, crashed seconds after takeoff, killing a total of 260 people, including many on the ground.

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The 15-page-long report also noted that Engine 1 and Engine 2 fuel cutoff switches transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF within one second of each other. This means the engines of the aircraft were completely starved of fuel supply.

Talking about the black box of the Dreamliner aircraft, Mohol said, “We have enough resources to probe black boxes of crashed aircraft on our own. Earlier, they had to be sent outside for investigations.”

“AAIB is an independent body and operates without any interference from the government. But it is not ideal to comment on its report just yet, as the investigation into the crash is ongoing. The black box is still being probed,” he added.

To publish its initial report, the AAIB investigated the wreckage of the site activities, including Drone photography/videography and both engines of the aircraft were retrieved from the wreckage site and quarantined at a hangar in the airport.

Fuel Samples were taken from the browsers and tanks used to refuel the aircraft were tested at the DGCA’s Lab and found satisfactory. A very limited number of fuel samples could be retrieved from the APU filter and Refuel/Jettison valve of the left wing. The testing of these samples will be done at a suitable facility capable of carrying out the test with the limited available quantity.