Advocate questions failure to prevent a crash similar to 2010 Mangaluru tragedy

MANGALURU: Expressing deep regret over the failure of the aviation authorities to learn key lessons from past failures, Yeshwanth Shenoy, a lawyer who keeps a close watch on the developments in the sector, raised pertinent questions on the failure of the officials concerned to prevent the mishap in Kozhikode that was quite similar to the Mangaluru air crash a decade ago.
Admitting that accidents could not be prevented altogether, Shenoy told TOI, “The Commission of Inquiry (COI) was constituted in the wake of the Mangaluru air crash to find what had led to that catastrophe. The air crash that occurred in Kozhikode on Friday is disturbingly similar to what transpired in Mangaluru. Why is it that this was not prevented?”
Shenoy, along with advocate Nayana Pai and Triveni Kodkany, who lost her husband and mother in the Mangaluru tragedy that claimed the lives of 158 people in all, united to start the ‘812 Foundation’ to raise issues warranting solutions in the Indian aviation system.
Shenoy said that he had written to the Director of General Civil Aviation, chairman of the Airports Authority of India and the Union ministry of civil aviation, seeking answers for the ‘system failure’ that had resulted in the Kozhikode tragedy. In his mail, Shenoy has highlighted the similarity of Friday’s crash to the disaster that had occurred in Mangaluru in 2010.
“The COI set up to investigate the crash of IX812 flight ought to have come up with measures to prevent a similar incident, but the mishap in Kozhikode proves that such is not the case,” rued Shenoy, calling on Union civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri to constitute another COI, which would afford the advocate an opportunity to place all the evidence he had on record.