Air India victims’ families say crash report a ‘cover-up’

“We have seen videos showing how poorly Air India maintained these jets. They have to answer our questions and take the responsibility,” he said.

Imtiyaz Ali Syed, 42, whose brother died in the crash with his wife, Mariam, and their two children, said he wanted answers so he could “begin to heal”.

“Instead, all I got was aviation jargon praising Boeing’s systems. The report saying nothing conclusive. I have read it a dozen times, but found no closure,” he said.

He demanded that the full cockpit audio be released in the presence of independent and international experts.

“Everyone – Air India, Boeing, the government – has something to protect. But we have lost our entire families. How can we move on without the truth?” he asked.

Sameer Rafik, whose cousin, Faizan, died in the crash, also called on Air India to release the cockpit voice recording.

He told the BBC he did not trust the report, saying it made no sense that the pilots would switch off the fuel supply to the engines.

“I don’t believe that, because both the pilots were experienced enough to fly. The captain had flown more than 8300 hours, the co-pilot had more than 3100 hours,” Rafik said.

“Until the airline provides the cockpit recording to us, I’m not going to believe it.”

When asked why he was unconvinced by the report, he said he did not trust the Indian government.

Authorities said data extraction from the plane’s black boxes by a team of Indian and US experts, including some from the US National Transportation Safety Board, began on June 24, 12 days after the disaster.

American officials have been frustrated by what they say is the slow pace of downloading, analysing and sharing the contents of the black boxes, insiders have claimed.