Not your jurisdiction: DGCA tells cops about Singapore Airlines probe

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and local police, which are conducting a parallel investigation into the recent Singapore Airlines turbulence incident in which 22 people were injured, are at loggerheads over the issue of jurisdiction.

The situation became tense after the office of assistant commissioner of police (airport division) wrote to the DGCA asking it to submit the details of the probe carried out by it.

DGCA, in turn, has written to top police authorities saying that the police has no jurisdiction over it. A senior DGCA official, who had knowledge about the matter said, "The cops have no jurisdiction over the airline incident investigation and should submit to us all the statements of injured passengers."

The incident happened on October 18, when Singapore Airlines flight SQ424 from Singapore to Mumbai faced sudden turbulence during descent. Airline officials said that there were 408 passengers and 25 crew members on board. In their report to airport and other authorities, the airline officials informed that eight passengers and 14 crew sustained injuries.

While speaking to dna, ACP Madhukar Sankhe stated that his department was conducting an investigation which is under the ambit of law. He said, "We want to know from DGCA whether the fault was of the pilots or if there was a technical snag. We are within our rights to ask for details as it the incident involved injury to passengers and crew members."

After preliminary investigation by the DGCA regional office in Mumbai, further investigation is being done by Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau in co-ordination with aviation regulatory authorities from Singapore.

The preliminary enquiry report suggests that the turbulence occurred because of air pockets and only those passengers who did were not wearing seat belts were injured.