Death toll in Indian plane crash climbs to 270
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The crash happened just weeks after the company cut a deal with the U.S. government to avoid taking criminal responsibility for a pair of deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019.
India’s government is urgently inspecting all Boeing 787s after a devastating Air India crash that claimed at least 270 lives this week, the aviation minister said on Saturday, adding that the authorities were investigating all possible causes.
The crash of a Boeing 787 passenger jet in India minutes after takeoff on Thursday is the latest incident that adds to woes at the troubled U.S. planemaker.
Last year, the F.A.A. said it was also investigating claims by a Boeing engineer that parts of the fuselage, or body, of the Dreamliner were improperly fastened together, which the whistle-blower said could cause premature damage to the plane over years of use.
This is a different plane from the Boeing 737 Max, which was in the headlines after fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, which killed hundreds of people in 2018 and 2019 respectively. A software fault was found to have caused those incidents and the model was grounded worldwide for 18 months.
Air India confirmed that 241 of the 242 people on board were killed, with one survivor, a British national, being treated in a hospital.
Boeing Co. Chief Executive Officer Kelly Ortberg finds himself in a painfully familiar role as he faces another crisis, this time over a crash involving the company’s marquee 787 Dreamliner jet in India that killed more than 240 people.