Pune, 24 June

Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu on Tuesday said the black box of the Air India plane which crashed in Ahmedabad earlier this month was being examined by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, and dismissed speculation that it would be sent abroad for an inquiry.

The London-bound Air India flight crashed into a hostel complex in Ahmedabad moments after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport there on 12 June afternoon, killing 270 persons, including 241 on board. One passenger survived.

The black box of Air India's Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane was recovered from the site on 13 June.

A black box is a small device that records information about an aircraft during its flight. It helps in the investigation of aviation accidents.

Asked about some media reports suggesting the black box would be sent abroad for a probe into the incident, Naidu said, "...it is all speculation. The black box is very much in India and it it currently being investigated by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB)."

To a query on when is the black box data expected to be retrieved, the minister said it is a very technical matter.

"Let the AAIB conduct the probe and go through the entire process," he added.

Naidu was speaking here on the sidelines of the Helicopters & Small Aircraft Summit 2025, organised by FICCI jointly with the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

A high-level panel has been set up to investigate the causes of the Ahmedabad plane crash and the investigation is progressing smoothly, the government said after the incident.

"Decoding the black box is going to give an in-depth insight into what happened moments before the plane crash," Naidu had earlier said.