The captain of the ill-fated Air India plane that crashed on June 12, killing 260 people, had a haunting last conversation with a security guard at his apartment complex.
Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, 56, told the guard, “Please, take care of father. I will be back soon.”
Just hours later, his Boeing 787 Dreamliner would plummet into a residential area in Ahmedabad, killing 241 people on board and 19 people on the ground.
The Investigation into the Tragic Crash
Investigators are looking into suggestions that Sabharwal, a veteran aviator with over 8,200 hours in the cockpit, turned off the plane’s fuel switches, causing it to lose power.
A preliminary report revealed that two fuel switches, typically left on during flight, were moved from ‘Run’ to ‘Cutoff’, depriving the engines of fuel.
Recordings from the Boeing’s black box support the view that the captain cut the flow of fuel to the plane’s engines.
However, friends and colleagues of Sabharwal reject the idea that he was responsible for the crash, describing him as a “gentle soul” and an “ace pilot” who had never been involved in any major incident prior to the crash.
Sabharwal was struggling to come to terms with the recent loss of his mother, according to sources close to the investigation.
As the investigation continues, the final words of Captain Sabharwal serve as a poignant reminder of the tragic events that unfolded on that fateful day.