Mumbai: Five killed as 12-seater plane crashes in Ghatkopar

Chartered plane crash in Mumbai: At least five people died in the crash. (Express photo by Prashant Nadkar)

A 12-seater aircraft crashed at a construction site in suburban Mumbai on Thursday afternoon, killing all four on board, including the pilot, co-pilot and two aircraft maintenance personnel. A fifth person, a pedestrian, also died when the Beechcraft King C90, owned by Mumbai-based UY Aviation Pvt Ltd, crashed into the pillars and tin sheet-fence of an under-construction building in Ghatkopar area.

The aircraft was on its first test flight after three years in maintenance.

By Thursday evening, the deceased were identified as Captain P S Rajput (49), co-pilot Marya Zuberi (47) and aircraft maintenance engineer Surabhi and technician Manish Pandey. Surabhi and Manish had been employed by a company handling repairs to the aircraft.

The charred bodies had to be identified by jewellery or other items on them. The passerby, whose body was found a few feet away from the burning debris, could not be identified formally. Local residents said he might be Govind Dubey (32), who has been missing since the crash.

Sources said the aircraft suffered a minor accident in 2009-2010 in Uttar Pradesh after which it was grounded for five years. It was purchased in 2015. On Thursday, the aircraft flew for the first time in almost eight years.

A two-member team of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, expected to arrive on Friday, will investigate the crash. According to senior DGCA officials, low visibility, due to heavy rains or an engine failure could have caused the crash. “It is too early to ascertain the reason for the crash. It will be investigated. As more than 60 per cent of the aircraft has been wrecked, the shudder was quite huge. The AAIB team will collect the evidence on Friday,” a DGCA official said.

The black box and the flight data recorder have been kept at the DGCA office in Mumbai. “We have sealed the flying and maintenance records of the aircraft company. The call records with the ATC have also been seized. The AAIB team, which comes on Friday, will take back the black box to Delhi for further investigation,” a senior DGCA official said.

Around 1.10 pm, the aircraft was seen nosediving into the steel reinforcements of an under-construction pillar at the Lifescapes Prithvii building in Jagruti Nagar, Ghatkopar (West). “It cut through a tree and crashed with force. The body of the aircraft landed on a pillar of the under-construction building, breaking the pillar. The fan blade of the crashing plane also broke the boundary barricades of the construction site. It landed with such force that one part flew into a building located behind the crash site,” an official from the aircraft fire rescue team said. The fuel tank burst leading to a blaze. Somnath Shah, a resident of a nearby building, said as the plane crashed, it left a trail of fuel on the street, which also caught fire.

Labourers at the construction site, who were having lunch in the basement of another wing of the under-construction building, were among the first to witness the crash.

Prakash Shigari, who had driven his autorickshaw into an adjoining lane, said: “We rushed to help the person whose body could be seen. But due to thick smoke, we could not do much immediately.”

Police and fire brigade personnel made it to the crash site within 10 minutes. “Those on board were strapped to their seats and were under the debris. While we could find two bodies immediately, we had to dig up the debris to find the others. The rains made the rescue difficult,” a rescue official said.

Those who saw the plane burst into flames said they did not hear it coming until it crashed through the trees. “We rushed to help. One burning body was near the debris,” said Bhausaheb Kadam, a who owns a paan shop nearby.

The 22-year-old aircraft was purchased by UY Aviation from the state government of Uttar Pradesh in 2015. According to sources at the Juhu airport, the plane took off at 12.30 pm and was conducting its first test sortie after three years in maintenance. “It had completed close to 40 minutes in air, and had flown over Surat. It was almost about to land at Juhu airport when it crashed.” a senior airport official said.

The pilots were in touch with the ATC at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai throughout the flight, as per protocol. “Hardly 200 nautical miles away from the airport, the pilots lost touch with the ATC. In their last communication, the pilots informed the Juhu ATC and Mumbai ATC that they are close to landing at the Juhu airport Runway 26. They were close to the Mumbai airport main runway,” a source at the Juhu airport said.

Local policemen said more casualties were averted, as labourers at the construction site were on a lunch break in the basement of the building.

Police officers said the DGCA has asked the crash site to be sealed for 24 hours so that they can scan the area for more evidence. The officials would also check CCTV footage from the constructed wing of the site that captured the crash.

According to officials from UY Aviation, the co-pilot had clocked 900 hours of flying. “The pilot has flown over 5,000 hours. The co-pilot is known to have flown jet aircraft,” said Anil Chauhan, the head of operations at UY Aviation.

The two engineers on board were from Indamer Aviation Limited, which had just completed maintenance of the aircraft. “We took it on a test flight as we were to start operations soon. The flight was in the air for an hour and just about to land at Juhu when the accident took place,” said Chauhan.

The National Disaster Response Force personnel were also at the site soon after the crash. “After the bodies were removed, we conducted a search to retrieve the black box and other technical details from the aircraft. We have retrieved the black box and the Flight Data Recorder (FDR),” said Akhilesh Singh, Depty Commissioner of Police, Zone VIII.

Chauhan said the UY Aviation would co-operate in the investigation. “It is too early to say who is responsible. We will help in the investigations,” he said.

Till late on Thursday, the bodies of the deceased were neither officially identified nor handed over to families. While the family members of Zuberi and Rajput identified the bodies based on ornaments, there was no medical confirmation. According to police surgeon Dr SM Patil, the molar teeth, skin and blood samples of all the deceased have been preserved for DNA testing. “The bodies are completely burnt, and few suffered poly trauma and fractures. Identification is difficult,” Patil said.

The Ghatkopar police registered an accidental death report in the case and said they have started recording statements of witnesses.

(inputs from Tabassum Barnagarwala, Benita Chacko and Sagar Rajput)