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Mumbai plane crashed because not 'airworthy', says official

Details emerged indicating that the plane had been on a test flight.

By AP/IANS

Published: Fri 29 Jun 2018, 12:44 PM

Last updated: Fri 29 Jun 2018, 6:04 PM

In an update on the Mumbai plane crash that happened on Thursday, an aviation company official said the plane that crashed in India's financial capital, killing five people, was not certified as airworthy and was undergoing major repairs after an earlier crash.
Anil Chauhan, a manager at UY Aviation, which owned the small King Air C90, said the plane was on a test flight when it crashed Thursday.
Chauhan told the TimesNow news channel Friday the aircraft had not yet been handed over to the company and did not have a certificate of airworthiness. The plane had been damaged in a crash six years ago while it was owned by a state government.
A civil aviation ministry team examined the crash site where two pilots, two flight technicians and one person at the construction site were killed.

At least five persons including a pedestrian were killed when a small chartered plane crashed in the thickly populated suburb of Ghatkopar in north-east Mumbai, officials said.

Eyewitnesses said the plane was seen hurtling down and crashed with a deafening roar before bursting into flames around 1.15 pm. There were four people on board.

Two pilots, two Aircraft Maintenance Engineers on board & one person on ground are dead in the Mumbai chartered plane crash: Directorate General of Civil Aviation
- ANI (@ANI) June 28, 2018

Mumbai chartered plane crash: 1 person dead and two others injured in the crash in Ghatkopar. More details awaited.
- ANI (@ANI) June 28, 2018

Mumbai: A chartered plane has crashed in Ghatkopar. Fire tenders and an ambulance are at the spot. Firefighting operations are underway. No casualties have been reported. More details awaited. pic.twitter.com/ie7ck70Sep
- ANI (@ANI) June 28, 2018

Rescue officials who rushed to site said four bodies, whose identity was not clear, had been recovered from the smoking plane's wreckage.

A passerby in the vicinity of the crash was burnt fatally when some burning fuel from the aircraft fell on him, said an eyewitness who was among the first to reach the spot.

As per preliminary information, the aircraft was on a test flight and had taken off from the Juhu Airport minutes before it crashed.

The cause of the crash is not known. It occurred in an under construction building premises, averting what could have been a major disaster.

#CharteredPlane crashes In #Ghatkopar; Four dead along with pilot. The crash took place around 1:30 pm on Thursday. #planecrash #Mumbai pic.twitter.com/e8to2SbrXr
- Mumbai Live (@MumbaiLiveNews) June 28, 2018