Mumbai: Five people died after a 12-seater King Air C90 chartered aircraft crashed inside the compound of an open under-construction site in Ghatkopar on Thursday afternoon at a time when it was allegedly on a test sortie. Among the dead were the aircraft’s four-member crew— pilots Capt P S Rajput and Capt Maria, two aircraft maintenance engineers, Manish Pandey and Surbhi —and a pedestrian near the crash site.
The deceased and the injured, at least two of them, were sent to Rajawadi Hospital. The aircraft (VT-UPZ) had taken off from Juhu Airport and crashed around 1 pm. Teams of officials from the fire brigade and police reached the spot to undertake fire fighting, and search and rescue operations. The aircraft belonged to a Mumbai-based company, U Y Aviation Pvt Ltd. According to officials, the aircraft was bought from the UP government in 2014. Several residential buildings surround the crash site with one building under construction with makeshift tenements for labourers.
Fire officials received a call at 1:16 pm when the aircraft had crashed into Old Maniklal lane in Ghatkopar West. “The investigation is ongoing and the report would be out in the next 2-3 days. Nothing concrete has been discovered from the site. We would need to speak with people present during the take-off and officials from the aviation firm to ascertain the reasons behind the crash,” said Hemant Parab, chief fire officer (CFO), Mumbai Fire Brigade.
The fire was doused by 1:40 pm. A team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) also joined the fire brigade to remove debris from the site. An official statement from the DGCA (Director General of Civil Aviation) stated, “The aircraft took off from Juhu airport for a test flight. A DGCA team is on the way for a preliminary investigation. AAIB (Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau) shall perform a detailed probe.”
Meanwhile, Nand Gopal Gupta, civil aviation minister of UP, tweeted, “VT-UPZ was Uttar Pradesh government aircraft till 2014 and it was sold to UY Aviation Pvt Ltd of Mumbai in 2014. It is currently neither owned nor operated by the UP Govt.” Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis visited the site.
