The civil aviation and tourism ministry on Monday formed a four-member committee to detect responsibilities for the technical glitch that forced a VVIP flight of the state-run Biman carrying prime minister Sheikh Hasina to land on emergency at Ashkhabad in Turkmenistan while flying from Dhaka to Budapest.
The probe body led by additional secretary Swapan Kumar Sarker has been asked to report in seven days with recommendations on precautions for the future.
The committee includes a representative from the Prime Minister’s Office, director (flight safety and regulation) of the civil aviation authority and director (engineering and material management) of Biman as members.
‘We are giving the highest importance to the issue since it was a VVIP flight carrying the prime minister. The committee has been asked to detect whether anyone’s negligence
was the reason for such a technical glitch on a new plane,’ civil aviation minister Rashed Khan Menon said.
He told New Age that the national flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines had already been asked to take action if anyone’s lapses in the flight operations were primarily identified.
Biman formed another probe committee immediately after the incident on Sunday and the civil aviation authority also initiated a probe into the VVIP flight’s emergency landing due to the technical glitch, the minister added.
The standard operating procedure was followed to ensure safety of flight operations for VVIPs, Menon said.
He said the government was considering procurement of a new plane exclusively for the VVIPs.
Biman’s flight carrying the prime minister and 99 passengers including her entourage left Dhaka for the Hungarian capital at 9:14am on Sunday.
The Biman flight made an emergency landing at Ashkhabad International Airport around 2:15 pm following low oil pressure in its engine.
Sheikh Hasina resumed her journey for Budapest from Turkmenistan in the evening, after a delay of over four hours following the technical glitch in the Biman flight.
The VVIP flight of the national flag carrier left Ashkhabad International Airport at 6:37pm after necessary repair of the aircraft.
The prime minister left for Budapest on a four-day visit at the invitation of Hungarian president Janos Ader to attend the Budapest Water Summit 2016.
Source: New Age
