The Indian agency investigating last year's Air India plane crash that killed 260 people has said that a draft final report could be ready in October. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) told the Supreme Court in an affidavit filed on Tuesday that it was currently engaged in the analysis phase of the investigation, expected to complete in around six weeks.
The affidavit did not specify when the report would be made public or disclose any findings related to the crash. The tragedy occurred on 12 June 2025, when an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner en route to London crashed seconds after takeoff from Ahmedabad airport in western India. The plane came down about 6km from the airport, crashing into a building used as doctors' accommodation at a medical college, causing an explosion.
Altogether, 260 people – 241 on board and 19 on the ground – were killed. Only one passenger, Viswashkumar Ramesh from Leicester, survived. The AAIB launched an investigation soon after the crash and released a preliminary report a month later. In Tuesday's affidavit, the AAIB said it had completed 49 of the 66 mandated steps for investigating any serious aircraft accident.
This included examining the accident site and wreckage, collecting evidence including flight recorders, and reviewing crew members' medical history and training records. A psychological autopsy and evaluation were also conducted. The preliminary report from last July stated that seconds after takeoff, fuel-control switches abruptly moved to the cut-off position, starving the engines of fuel and triggering total power loss.
Audio recordings from the cockpit captured one pilot asking the other why he had done it, with the other replying that he had not. The ambiguity led to speculation about the pilots' role, with some foreign media reports suggesting investigators were focusing on senior pilot Capt Sumeet Sabharwal. The reports prompted backlash from Sabharwal's father, pilots' associations, and the AAIB.
In the affidavit, filed in response to a lawsuit by Sabharwal's father seeking an independent investigation, the AAIB said that media speculation attributing blame to pilots had regrettably caused some witnesses to become restrictive and non-responsive. The investigation continues.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk