The Black Box eluded the DGCA's search team for the second day running despite efforts made to locate it on Monday. The box, a vital
missing link to the last couple of minutes of Air India Express' descent into Bajpe airport in Mangalore, stayed buried and untraceable under the debris a full 60 hours after the disaster.
Airport sources said the DGCA's Air Safety Team would conduct search in a wider area of the crash site on Tuesday, much beyond the location of the wreckage site assuming the crash impact may have flung the vital piece of equipment, further out than normal. "There will be combing operations on Tuesday in a wider area," said Bajpe airport GM Peter Abraham.
The body of the 53-year-old Serbian pilot Zlatko Glusica was en route to Belgrade. It made a lonely journey as it was sent unaccompanied by AI officials to Delhi on Monday morning. It will be received by the pilot's family members at Belgrade on Tuesday, said an AI official. The pilot is survived by his wife Ana and children Merima, Aleksander and Dunja.
At Mangalore, a team of disaster recovery specialists from Kenyon International Emergency Services from the US arrived at Ground Zero to assist with recovery, identification, repatriation of human remains and the return of their personal belongings.
The team's crisis management professionals will assist Air India Express by providing advice and counsel to the airline to help with the accident response. Its disaster human services experts will assist the families of the passengers.
At the Bajpe Airport, on Monday morning, there were at least 40 personnel assisting the DGCA team in sifting through the debris. The whole wreckage was turned upside down and the ground below it searched thoroughly, without yielding any positive results in the quest for the black box.
On Monday, the Wenlock Mortuary wore a deserted look with families of 22 victims being told on Sunday that the forensic experts would need at least a week to establish the identity of the charred bodies. The remaining 136 bodies have been handed over to the families of the deceased.
K H Muniyappa, special emissary of the PM, and Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav said that they were trying to expedite handing over the bodies and minimize trauma to the victims families.
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