sunil@ut-ngp.UTEXAS (Sunil Trivedi) (07/07/85)
From: Uday Reddy <U-REDDY@UTAH-20.ARPA> Subject: [kapur@GE-CRD: News Bulletin 06/29]] > [Forwarded from iitnet. -- USR] > > The whole of this news bulletin is devoted to the > tragedic Air India crash. > > Indian community in North America was shocked by > a severe tragedy on Sunday June 23 when an > Air-India jet 747 crashed in mid-air over the Atlantic ocean resulting in > the death of 329 people, almost all of Indian > descent. Shock waves tremored the Indian > community in the > cities of Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver in > Canada where most of the 200,000 people of Indian > background in Canada are living. Relatives and > friends gathered to find more information from > Air India as well as to console each other. Some > families were totally wiped out. > Prayers were held in temples and gurdwaras. In > the words of the President of the National > Association of Canadians of Indian Origin, the tragedy has > broguht the whole Indian > community together to bear the loss and help each > other. > Condolence messages to the families of the > victims and to the Indian and Canadian > governments have come from many places including > heads of states. Condolence meetings are being > held in many place in North America. > > The Air India Flight 182 which started from > Toronto on Saturday June 22 night, picked more > passengers from Montreal and was flying to Delhi > and Bombay via London. According to the Irish air > controllers, the flight Captain HS Narendra made > a routine contact with the air control office in > Ireland when it entered the Irish air space. However, > eight minutes after that contact, the plane > disappeared from the radar screen. There was no > distress signal or any request for help from the > flight crew. > British navy and Royal air force were > called into action to search for the aircraft. > The debris of > the aircraft was located in the Atlantic ocean about > 100 miles off an Irish coastal city Cork. Soon > after the aircraft was located, suspicions were > confirmed that no one survived the mysterious > mid-air explosion of the aircraft. Over a period > of 2-3 days of search, the Royal Airforce had > located about 130 bodies, over 100 of them > of female passengers. A major portion of the > debris including the flight recorders > was suspected to be buried at the sea-bed, about > 6000 feet deep. > > At least 279 of the 329 victims of the crash were > Canadian citizens, almost all of them are of Indian > descent. There were 22 crew members, and 8 > American citizens of Indian origin mostly from Buffalo > and Detriot areas. The victims included at least 80 children. > > In another incident, there was an explosion > from the baggage of a Canadian Pacific Air flight > 003 from Vancouver to Tokyo > hours before the Air-India crash. The explosion > killed two baggage handlers at the Narita > airport and injured many. The explosion took > place about 40 minutes after > the plane arrived at the airport when the baggage was being moved from the > aircraft to the baggage handling area. The CP > flight luckily reached about 10-15 minutes > earlier than its scheduled time; had it reached > on time or gotten delayed by few minutes, > explosion could have caused much greater loss of > life. > > The cause of the Air India crash as well as > the explosion from the baggage from CP flight are > being investigated. According to the Deputy Prime > Minister of Canada, the inquiry would try to > determine whether the two incidents were linked > and also whether terrorists caused them. > Investigators of the Air-India crash are putting a lot of hope on > the flight recorders to get some clue into the > mystery. > According to an Irish government spokesman on Friday, a > British navy search ship had located the flight > recorders of the Air India jumbo. > The British Ministry of Defense > however was cautious. It issued a statement saying > that the HMS Challenger had received a weak and > intermittant signal since Wednesday but that "the > nature of the signal has been such that she was > unable to locate or analyze it." The Challenger > was to dock in Cork on Saturday to unload the > wreckage. > > By mid-day Sunday, the day of the tragedic crash, > the New York Times, the > Post and the Daily News reported that they had > received calls which said that > Sikh > Students Federation and Dashmesh Regiment claimed > responsibility of the downing of the Air India plane. The > caller to the New York Times was quoted as saying > that the group bombed the plane "to protest Hindu > imperialism." Canadian Broadcasting Corporation > reported that it received a call saying that the > Kashmir Liberation Army was responsible for the > explosion of the Air India jet. No one has so far > claimed responsibility of the bomb on the CP Air > flight 003. > However, the Punjab-based All India Sikh > Students Federation vehementally > denied having any involvement in the Air-India > crash. Its president said that the organization > did not have any branch in North America. All > India Sikh Students Federation was banned last > year by the Indian government for its alleged > involvement in terrorist activities in Punjab. > The ban on the organization was lifted in April > this year. All community based Indian organziations > in North America including all Sikh organizations > have expressed shock and deep > anguish over the crash and denounced those who > might have placed a bomb on the aircraft. Even > the organizations and individuals who espouse the > cause of Khalistan have denied that Sikh > extremists might have placed the bomb. They have > pointed out that there were also Sikhs on the > plane. According to some leaders, any mischievous > person could have called the newspapers and put > the blame on Sikh organizations to further widen > the gap and increase tensions within the Indian > community. > > Because of the mysterious nature of the > circumstances in which the Air-India crash took place, > there are many rumors, > speculations, unofficial leaks, etc. > Most press reports and official spokespersons > of the Canadian and Indian governments > however have said that the cause of the explosion > is under investigation and nothing can be said > until the investigation is completed. But from > the day of the crash, media reports as well as remarks > of Air India officials and some > representatives of the Indian government > have indicated that the crash has been caused > by a bomb placed by Sikh extremists. > > The following reports are based mostly on > speculations and unofficial comments which have > appeared in the media and have not been confirmed > by any government agency. According to one > report in the Toronto Globe and Mail which is mostly based > on comments of an Air-Indian official and some > Indian officials, > two Sikh extremists Lal Singh and Ammand > Singh being sought by the FBI in connection with > the purported plots to assassinate Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and > Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal are tied to the > Air-India crash and the explosion from the > bggage on the CP flight. Both L. Singh and A. > Singh were allegedly booked on > an Air-India flight 301 from Tokyo to Bombay. > Later it was said that they also had reservations on the CP flight > from Vancouver to Tokyo. > One of the two, L. Singh, allegedly > checked in his baggage on the CP flight 003 to be > transferred to the Air-India from Tokyo but did > not board the plane. That piece of baggage > allegedly contained the bomb which was meant > to explode the Air-India flight from Tokyo to Bombay; however > it accidently exploded at the Narita airport. > A. Singh allegedly arrived in Toronto > before the Air-India flight 182's departure. > The manifest of the CP flight has not been made > public yet. > > According to another report in the New York > Times, a passenger listed as A. SIngh had arrived > at Narita on a Northwest Airlines flight from San > Francisco. He left later on a Northwest flight to > Manila. > > Initial reports on the Canadian media hinted that > perhaps baggage meant for the Air-India flight > 182 accidently went into the CP 003 flight. It > was also said that according to one > unidentified Air-India offical, A. Singh and L. > Singh had reservations on the ill-fated Air-India > flight 182. > > Lal Singh, along with 3 other Sikhs, allegedly took courses in explosives in > a mercenary school run by a Vietnam War Veteran > in Birmingham, Alabama. The other 3 are already > being detained by the FBI in connection with an > assassination plot against Bhajan Lal. > > The New York Times quoted a report in the Montreal Gazette saying that > the Air-India crash might have occurred because > of the structural breakdown of the plane caused > by it carrying a fifth defective engine. > According to the Air-India office as well as the > Boeing company spokesman, this was a routine > practice by all airlines and such an act could > not have caused a structural breakdown in the > plane. > > According to the Transport Minister of Canada, > three pieces of baggage checked for the Air India flight > at Montreal had failed > the security check and had been removed from the > plane; subsequent investigations reported some > harmless pieces of metal in the baggage. The > Transport Minister confirmed that Air India had > requested tighter security checks at the > Montreal Mirabel airport for the past few months. > However, no such request was made for the Toronto > airport by Air India. He also said that in Canada, the > airport authorities had instituted adequate security check for the > hand-carried baggage, but the decision about the security check of the > checked-in baggage was left to the respective air lines. The > Minister confirmed that at Toronto, the X-ray > machine to check for the hand baggage for the > Air India flight 182 broke during the checking; > subsequently, checks were made using hand-held > metal detectors. > > According to an IATA security director, Boeing > 747 is a very strong aircraft. It was highly > unlikely that the aircraft would explode as a > result of a explosion of a bomb in a piece of > baggage because of the cushioning effect of the > surrounding baggage. He suggested that > the bomb must have been highly > strategically placed; in that case, the question > is how the bomb got at such a place. > > A son of a victim accused the Air India officials > of negligence. He told reporters that when he > heard of the plane getting delayed at Toronto and > saw some maintenance people working on the plane, he > suspected some mechanical fault. He inquired > whether everything was ok and tried to get his > mother off the plane, but could not do so. > Air India officials denied of any mechanical > problems with the plane and explained the delay > at Toronto as having been caused by the late > arrival of a flight engineer. > > Air-India chief ruled out any structural > breakdown in the aircraft as the cause of the > crash. According to him, "one cannot rule out the > possibility of an explosion." > > The Air-India crash is the third worst > air-disaster in the aviation history- the other > two being collision of two jumbos on a runaway at > Canary Islands in March 1977 and another jumbo > plunging into the forest in March 1974. > Another AirIndia Boeing 747 bound for Dubai with 213 people > abroad had exploded in the air and plunged into > the sea less than two minutes after takeoff from > Bombay. There were no survivors. The relatives of > the victims have filed a class action suit > against the Boeing company in US and the case is > still going on. > > Sources: India Now, The New York Times, the Associated Press, National Public > Radio, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and > US TV Networks. This was posted to net.nlang.india since it would be of interest to the 'suscribers' of net.nlang.india. Has any information surfaced about the flight recorder on board the AI plane? Sunil Trivedi sunil@ut-ngp.ARPA ...!ut-sally!ut-ngp!sunil "Jai Hind...Jai Bharat"
jis1@mtgzz.UUCP (j.mukerji) (07/12/85)
Both the black boxes, the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder have been recovered. They are being sent to Bombay, India where their contents will be analyzed in an attempt to pinpoint the cause of the crash. This remarkable feat of recovery from 6700' under the ocean was achieved using an underwater robot named Scarab I, which is used by AT&T and other communications companies to service and repair undersea cables. The Scarab I and its twin newer version Scarab II were designed and built at AT&T Bell Laboratories at Holmdel between 1977 and 1981. Scarab is an acronym for Submersible Craft Assistant for Repair and Burial. It can operate at depths of upto 9000'. Jishnu Mukerji AT&T Information Systems Lab. Holmdel NJ +1 201 8342989 ihnp4!mtgzz!jis1