Biman in Myanmar: CAAB sending official to probe crash-landing

Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh will send its head of Aircraft Accident Investigation Group (AAIG) to Myanmar to assist the country’s aviation department investigate Wednesday’s Biman Bangladesh flight accident at Yangon Airport.

CAAB took the initiative following a request made by the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA), Myanmar on Wednesday night.

Talking to The Daily Star, Capt Salahuddin M Rahmatullah, head of AAIG, said he would leave for Yangon tomorrow to join his Myanmar counterpart to investigate the accident of flight Dash-8 Q 400 (BG 060) that left injured almost all 35 passengers and crew members during landing.

Salahuddin said their main objectives would be to find out how and why the accident occurred and determine whether it was due to the pilot’s error or bad weather. They would also check if the bad weather was unexpected.

The senior captain also said they would investigate whether the pilot had adhered to the standard procedure set by Biman Bangladesh Airlines for landing during bad weather and what the role of the air traffic control tower was at the time.

As per the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) rules, the probe body will have to submit its preliminary report to the authority concerned within one month and the full report within one year, Salahuddin added.

He also said as per the ICAO rule, Yangon had to include representatives from the host country of the aircraft in their investigation process.

Salahuddin, who had represented Bangladesh in the accident investigation body of Nepal after the US-Bangla aircraft deadly crash in Kathmandu last year, said, “I will leave for Yangon on Saturday and other experts will arrive later,” adding that there will be four to five members of the Bangladesh expert team, led by him, visiting Yangon.

Meanwhile, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, the national flag carrier, formed a six-member probe committee headed by the airlines’ chief of flight safety Captain Shoaib Chowdhury to investigate the incident.

The flight BG-060 left Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) at 3:45pm on Wednesday from Dhaka to Yangon. While landing amid rough weather, it overran the runway at approximately 6:22pm in an incident which wounded 19, including an infant, out of 35 passengers and crew members.

“The hospital authority in Yangon released four passengers last night. None of the other 15 injured now undergoing treatment there is in critical condition,” Shakil Meraj, Biman’s general manager, public relation, told reporters at a briefing at Biman’s head office in Kurmitola yesterday morning.

A Biman source, however, said three passengers were seriously injured.

Apart from two pilots, two cabin crew members and two ground engineers, there were 29 passengers from Bangladesh, Myanmar, India, China, Denmark, France, Britain and Canada.

Biman sent a special flight at 11:25pm Wednesday to Yangon to bring back the passengers who were waiting to catch a return flight to Dhaka.

“The special flight BG 1061 landed back at HSIA carrying 17 returning passengers at 4:50am this morning [Thursday],” Meraj said.

Biman was providing assistance to the passengers in Yangon, he said.

“Families of passengers on board flight BG-060 are requested to contact us on the following emergency response number for further assistance: +88028901530,” he added.

The injured passengers will return home after the hospital authorities release them, sources at Biman said.