Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: The investigation into the Air India AI 171 crash in Ahmedabad, which killed 260 people in June 2025, is in its final stage, and the report is expected to be made public within a month, Union civil aviation minister Rammohan Naidu said on Friday.He added that the probe is being conducted with “seriousness, fairness and transparency” due to international scrutiny over the disaster.Speaking on the sidelines of an event at GIFT City in Gujarat, Naidu said the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) had been carrying out an independent investigation with full support from the government.“Investigation is going on very strongly. We have to understand one thing that when foreign nationals were travelling on the plane that crashed, it (the probe report) will be up for scrutiny by any country. Any country or organisation can raise questions,” news agency PTI reported quoting Naidu.“Hence, the investigations have to be conducted with seriousness, fairness and transparency, and it being done in that spirit,” he said. The minister said the probe had reached its concluding phase and the findings were likely to be made public within a month.“The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is conducting independent investigations and, whatever resources they have asked for, we have been providing,” the Union minister said.Naidu also said the civil aviation ministry was continuing to coordinate compensation and assistance for the victims’ families through a dedicated cell set up after the crash.“We are monitoring the situation. We have a cell in the ministry, which is coordinating compensation and other things announced at that time. If someone has any issue, we will look into it,” he said while responding to concerns raised by some families regarding Air India’s handling of compensation and support.The minister’s comments come amid growing demands from victims’ relatives for greater transparency in the investigation. Around 30 families from across Gujarat recently wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking the release of the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (FDR) black box data to help uncover the cause of the crash.Air India flight AI 171, a Boeing 787-8 aircraft bound for London Gatwick, crashed into a medical college hostel complex shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on June 12, 2025.The aircraft burst into flames on impact, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 people on the ground, making it one of India’s deadliest aviation disasters in recent years.
