India denies entry to UN aviation investigator in Air India crash probe say sources

NEW DELHI - India would not allow a UN investigator to join a probe of a crashed Air India jet that some safety experts had criticised for delays in analysis of crucial black box data, two senior sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Earlier this week, the United Nations aviation agency took the unusual step of offering India one of its investigators to provide assistance following the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crash killing 260 people in Ahmedabad on June 12.

Previously, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has deployed investigators to help with certain probes, such as the downing of a Malaysian plane in 2014 and a Ukrainian jetliner in 2020, but those times the agency had been asked for assistance.

ICAO had asked for the investigator who was in India to be given observer status, but Indian authorities refused the offer, the sources said.

The news was first reported on June 26 by the Indian news channel Times Now.

India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB),which is leading the probe into the world’s deadliest aviation accident in a decade, did not return a request for comment.

ICAO was not immediately available for comment.

India’s civil aviation ministry said on June 26 that investigators downloaded flight recorder data around two weeks after the crash.

Previously, safety experts had questioned a lack of information about the probe, including the status of the combined black box unit recovered on June 13, along with a second set that was found on June 16.