US law firm to move Gujarat court in Air India plane crash case to seek Cockpit Voice Recorder, Flight Data Recorder data | Ahmedabad News

Upon his arrival, Andrews told The Indian Express: “Today (Saturday), I met some of the family members of Ahmedabad plane crash victims and (later) will fly from Surat to Diu as I am curious to meet the Lone Survivor Vishwash Kumar Ramesh.”

A total of 242 passengers were on board the Air India Boeing flight, which crashed within seconds after taking off from Runway 23 of the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. The crash saw only one survivor, British citizen from Diu Viswash Kumar Ramesh, while the victims included former chief minister Vijay Rupani.

Andrews who has earlier represented families of aviation disaster victims, including victims of the 2019 crash of the Ethiopian Airlines-run Boeing 737 MAX flight 302 that killed all 149 passengers and eight crew members, had been contacted by the kin of Ahmedabad plane crash victims to represent them in the legal proceedings.

Earlier on Friday, he met some of the victim’s families and assured them of “all possible help.”

Andrews who has been to the crash site at Meghaninagar during an earlier visit to Ahmedabad said: “The Air India 171 crash, along with the 737 MAX disasters, must be treated as calls for reform — to restore independent oversight, prioritise passenger safety, and rebuild global trust in aviation standards.”

This will be Beasley Allen and Mike’s first case in India.

Terming the sharing of the wrong mortal remains with the family members as “truly tragic”, Andrews said, “It is truly tragic…the stories I read in the media about the wrong remains being handed to the families of the victims in the UK. We have not talked to such families, nor have they approached us. I don’t know how such a thing has happened”.

“This issue leads to many questions. The families have the right to know what happened. They want to understand it from the beginning… like how the bodies were handled, collected, identified and processed and, who made the decision to send them to the UK,” he said.

“In my 20 years of experience fighting aviation litigation cases, I don’t remember any case where wrong remains were handed over to the families,” he added.

Andrews further added, “We have met many families who wanted to know exactly what had happened, and who should be held accountable. We have planned to file a petition in a Gujarat court to get the copies of the CVR and the FDR, collected by the investigation agencies of the Government of India. FDR will tell us ‘what’ happened in the plane and the CVR will tell us ‘why’. The data will throw light on the sounds in the cockpit, the voices, the switches, the beeps, the sirens, the alarms and other things. Our law firm has experts …in terms of computer analysis, animation and reconstruction, hydraulic and selective engineers and pilots. The expert team will piece together all the information and understand what happened in the cockpit”.

“We can also know if the crash was caused due to a human error or if the systems in the plane were responsible… Right now, we don’t know that. These two things together will give us a clear picture of what actually happened,” he said.

He added, “We are also in contact with legal firms in the UK, to assist us in the Montreal Convention Claims. A team from the Air Accident Investigation Branch of the UK had earlier come down to Ahmedabad and probed. We will also try to gather information from them. We feel that the information obtained from them will be helpful to us.”

The Montreal Convention establishes liability of the airline in the case of death or injury to passengers, as well as in cases of delay, damage or loss of baggage.

Talking about the lone survivor, Vishwash, Andrews said, “I am curious to meet him. We have come to know that he lost his brother in the same incident. The family would be in great pain and worried… Apart from his family, we are also planning to meet families of other victims of Diu, who are presently available.”