US-Bangla Plane Crash: Official joint probe starts today

The joint probe into the US-Bangla disaster officially starts today.

Head of Aircraft Accident Investigation Group (AAIG) of Bangladesh Capt Salahuddin M Rahmatullah is set to leave for Kathmandu today for the joint investigation.

"I have already visited the spot after the accident. I returned home to take some documents," he added.

Apart from the Nepalese probe committee, he said representatives of the aircraft and engine manufacturers would be in the probe team.

"There will be no representative from the US-Bangla Airlines in the investigation procedure to make it non-biased," he added.

A joint-team of experts would soon sit to decide where the plane's flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorders would be decoded, Yagya Prasad Gautam, chief of the probe committee formed by the Nepalese government, told The Daily Star.

A team of investigators from Bangladesh would join the Canadian and Nepalese officials in a day or two, he added.

The Canadian and Nepalese investigators have, however, started collecting information, talking to stakeholders, and analysing CCTV footage linked to the crash, he said.

Canadian aviation experts joined the Nepalese team yesterday.

Bangladeshi and Nepalese authorities had earlier said the recorders would be sent to Bombardier, the manufacturer of Dash 8, for decoding.

"We will find out the best place to decode the black box. It could be Canada or Singapore or any other country where we will find it convenient," Capt Salahuddin yesterday said.c

Nepal's Tribhuvan International Airport General Manager Raj Kumar Chhetri told The Daily Star that the recorders of the plane have been handed over to the Nepalese team.

Meanwhile, 17 bodies of Bangladeshi victims have been identified in Kathmandu while another Bangladeshi survivor returned home.

Sheikh Rashed Rubayet 33, a senior executive of Bank Asia, was admitted to the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital on his arrival from Kathmandu in the afternoon.

National coordinator of burn units Samanta Lal Sen during a briefing at the DMCH said, "Rubayet is in stable state. One of his ribs was broken. He is suffering from trauma and tissue damage in his leg.”

Survivors Shahin Bepari and Kabir Hossain are likely to return to Dhaka today.

Mehedi Hasan, Saiyada Kamrunnahar Shwarna, and Almun Nahar Annie arrived on Friday and are under treatment at the DMCH.

Shahreen Ahmed, another injured passenger, was brought back and admitted to the DMCH burn unit. She is now at the ICU.

A 13-member medical board, led by Sen, was formed yesterday for providing treatment to the injured US-Bangla passengers at the DMCH. The board would sit today.

Partha Shankar Paul, resident surgeon of the burn unit, told The Daily Star that the patients were gradually improving.

Emrana Kabir Hashi, another injured passenger of the plane, was scheduled to fly to Singapore around 10:00pm [Nepal time] yesterday for better treatment, US-Bangla Spokesperson Kamrul Islam told The Daily Star.

Sohel Mahmud, head of forensic medicine department of the DMCH, yesterday told reporters at Kathmandu, “We hope to identify some more deceased tomorrow [today]. If not identifiable, we will identify the rest through DNA profiling,” he added. 

Bodies of Aniruddha Zaman, Tahira Tanvin Shashi Reza, Meenhaz Bin Nasir, Rokibul Hasan, Motiur Rahman, Rafiq Uz Zaman, Akhtara Begum, Hasan Imam, Tamarra Prionmoyee, SM Mahmudur Rahman, Bilkis Ara, Sanzida Huque, Foysal Ahmed, Md Nuruz Zaman, Captain Abid Sultan, First Officer Prithula Rashid, and crew member Khwaja Hossain Mohammad Shafey have been identified.

Autopsies on all the bodies have been done.

The identified bodies could be flown home on Tuesday.