The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has instituted a multidisciplinary team to probe the severe turbulence incident in SpiceJet's flight SG-945 on Sunday evening in which at least 17 people, including 14 passengers and three cabin crew members, suffered injuries. Some of them have suffered head injuries and received stitches .
The probe team is expected to lead by Director (air safety. Meanwhile, the DGCA also took off the roster the flight's crew, aircraft maintenance engineer (AME) and in-charge of SpiceJet's maintenance control centre, pending a probe. At present, the aircraft that was involved in the incident on Sunday is grounded in Kolkata, the DGCA said. The rest of the SpiceJet aircraft fleet are in operation.
On Sunday, the Mumbai-Durgapur flight encountered a severe turbulence during its descent phase, injuring 14 passengers and three cabin crew members, the DGCA said in a statement. Two of the injured passengers -- one with head injury and another with spinal injury -- are in ICU right now, it mentioned.
"The DGCA has off-rostered the involved crew, the AME...And in-charge of Maintenance Control Centre of SpiceJet pending investigation. The involved aircraft is at present grounded in Kolkata. As a regulatory measure, DGCA is carrying out inspection of SpiceJet aircraft across the fleet," it added.
The airline earlier informed that the cabin crew and cockpit crew of SpiceJet SG- 945 will not be placed for aircraft duties, till the pending investigation. The airline also informed that this flight's crew are not being "utilised" pending the investigation.
Union Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said, "The turbulence encountered by a flight while landing in Durgapur, and the damage caused to the passengers is unfortunate. The DGCA has deputed a team to investigate the incident". The matter is being dealt with utmost seriousness and deftness, he said. "More details on the cause(s) will be shared once the investigation is completed," Scindia noted.
On Monday, a SpiceJet spokesperson said, "Eleven passengers travelling on SpiceJet flight SG-945 from Mumbai to Durgapur on May 1, which encountered severe turbulence during descent which unfortunately resulted in injuries to a few passengers, were hospitalised." Eight of those hospitalised have been discharged so far, the spokesperson said. The spokesperson said it is providing all possible help to the injured.
"The seat belt sign was on when the aircraft encountered turbulence. Multiple announcements were made by the pilots and the crew instructed passengers to remain seated and keep their seat belt fastened," the spokesperson mentioned. Due to severe turbulence, injuries were caused to few passengers, the spokesperson noted. "Timely medical assistance was provided upon arrival," the spokesperson added.
Sources said that there is no confirmation yet whether the Air Traffic Controller or the pilot flying the aircraft were informed or aware of the approaching storm, locally known as kalbaisakhi. But unwary passengers had the scare of their lives and many did not emerge unscathed from the terrifying flight experience. On microblogging site Twitter, a clip of the near tragedy was shared by Yuvraj Sharma. He wrote:" Extreme turbulence in a flight between Mumbai to Durgapur. I can feel what's going on in the minds of passengers when oxygen masks are coming down. Airline was SpiceJet. Again it was B737 MAX. Never travelling in this aircraft. But thankfully no major accident."
According to eyewitnesses, the oxygen masks dropped and luggage fell out of the overhead bins on the passengers, injuring several. One passenger has complained of a spinal injury.