The private helicopter belonging to LuLu Group that crash-landed on a marshy plot on Sunday morning was shifted to the Cochin International Airport in the early hours of Monday.
A team from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had visited the crash site and inspected the copter on Sunday evening before giving clearance for its shifting to the airport.
The copter carrying UAE-based businessman and chairman of LuLu Group M.A. Yusuf Ali, his wife, and crew had crash-landed on the plot right next to the Panangad police station on Sunday morning. None was injured in the incident.
“The leaves of the copter were removed, and it was lifted onto the back of a lorry using a crane before it was shifted to the airport. An internal inquiry by LuLu Group has been ruled out, since it will be of little help as any such probe will involve technicalities, which domain experts alone can make sense of,” said a spokesperson of the group.
The copter is being kept at a hangar at the airport being used by a company engaged for running the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility of the airport.
Airport sources said a probe by the DGCA was under way. The insurance company will also conduct an investigation and make repair assessment.
Yusuf Ali stable
Meanwhile, Mr. Ali returned to Abu Dhabi on a flight sent for him by the royal family there. The businessman and wife are said to be very stable.
The copter had crash-landed reportedly owing to technical snags. The pilot and others walked through hip-deep water, helped by local residents and were taken to the hospital.
Mr. Ali and others had boarded the copter that bore the logo of his group from his residence at Kochu Kadavanthra to call on a relative who was admitted at a nearby hospital. It was slated to land on the Fisheries Ground at Panangad. The pilot somehow managed a safe landing avoiding the NH Bypass, power lines, and a transit mixer nearby.