Video Shows Object Falling from Plane Moments Before Deadly India Crash

A newly surfaced video from Thursday’s tragic plane crash in India appears to capture an object falling from the aircraft just moments before it crashed, claiming the lives of all 241 people on board.

Footage filmed in Ahmedabad, in the state of Gujarat, shows a dark object seemingly becoming detached from the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner before the plane crashes and explodes into flames. While it’s not clear exactly what the object was, there has been speculation that it could be one of the plane’s emergency doors – possibly the one next to which the only survivor of the crash, British man Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, was sitting.

The cause of the crash hasn’t been established yet and investigators are analysing the footage while looking for the debris at the site where the plane came down. The investigation is also understood to be focusing on the engine, flaps and landing gear.

The plane’s digital flight data recorder, or black box, was recovered from a rooftop near the crash site and India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said it had begun its work with “full force”. The black box recovery marks an important step forward in the investigation, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said in a social media post.

The device will reveal information about the engine and control settings, in addition to what the voice recorder will show about the cockpit conversations, Paul Fromme, a mechanical engineer with the UK-based Institution of Mechanical Engineers said in a statement. “This should show quickly if there was a loss of engine power or lift after take-off and allow a preliminary determination of the likely cause for the crash,” said Fromme, who heads the professional association’s Aerospace Division.

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Separately, the country’s civil aviation regulator ordered Air India to conduct additional inspections of its Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 Dreamliners equipped with General Electric’s GEnx engines. That includes checks of the fuel parameters, cabin air compressor, engine control system, hydraulic system and take-off parameters, the order said.

Investigators on Friday continued searching the site of the crash – one of India’s worst aviation disasters – and Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with the lone surviving passenger in hospital. Sharing details of his experience before the crash, Vishwash, who was in seat 11A, explained the lights on the plane “started flickering” just seconds after the plane took off – and shortly after, it crashed.