Air India crash report: Victim’s families demand answers as report says fuel switches cut off – live updates

Owen Shipton
BBC News

Sameer Rafik, whose cousin Faizan died in the Air India crash, has called on the airline to release the cockpit voice recording.

Speaking to the BBC he said he didn’t trust the report, claiming it made no sense why the pilots would switch off the fuel supply to the engines.

“I don’t believe that because both the pilots were experienced enough to fly. The captain had flown more than 8,300 hours, the co-pilot had more than 3,100 hours.

“Until the airline provides the cockpit recording to us I’m not going to believe it.”

He said the report didn’t provide any new details they weren’t already aware of and that only the cockpit voice recording could prove to them what happened.

When asked why he felt so unconvinced by the report, he said he didn’t trust the Indian government.

He said he had trust issues with the Indian government because they hadn’t provided the cockpit voice recording.

“If they don’t want to do it publicly, that’s fine,” he said, “but provide it to the families.” He added that he would be prepared to travel to India to hear it.

“Until someone loses a loved one in the same way, they’ll never understand.”