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AN-32's 'black box' recovered

The vital 'black box' of the AN-32 which crashed yesterday killing 21 people, has been recovered and is being sent for decoding, Indian Air Force officials said today.

A court of inquiry, headed by Air Commodore R V Kumar, has begun investigations into the reasons why the transport aircraft crashed into a water reservoir as it was coming in to land at Delhi airport. All the 18 IAF personnel on board the aircraft died on the spot while three people, including two children, were killed on ground.

An IAF spokesman denied reports that there were more than 18 personnel aboard the aircraft when it crashed. The spokesman said there was some confusion that a flying officer H S Grewal had died but after checking IAF records it was found that there was no such officer on board.

Meanwhile, it was still not clear what had caused the accident to the aircraft which took off from Agra. Known as the 'work horse' of the IAF, the AN-32 lost contact with the air traffic controller at Delhi around 0817 hrs and crashed five minutes later at Pappankalan.

The plane hit an overhead electric wire and an embankment six inches high before crashing into the water reservoir, bursting into flames and breaking into two pieces.

UNI

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