Court seeks police report on glitch in PM's plane

Accepting the case, the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Golam Nabi asked the Airport police to submit the report by January 12. Biman Director (engineering and management) MAM Asaduzzaman filed the case under the Special Powers Act with Airport police on Tuesday night, accusing nine of its engineers who had been suspended based on preliminary findings. The nine are Chief Engineer (production) Debesh Chowdhury, Chief Engineer (quality assurance) SA Siddique and Principal Engineer (maintenance and system control) Billal Hossain; technical staff SM Rokonuzzaman, Samiul Huq, Lutfar Rahman and Milon Chandra Das; and Technician Siddiqur Rahman. DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia yesterday ordered transfer of the case to Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit. Airport police OC Nure Azam Miah told The Dhaka Tribune that they were trying to arrest nine accused. All the three probe reports submitted to the government have found that human negligence caused the technical problem. The final report prepared by the Civil Aviation Ministry was handed over to the minister on December 18. On November 23, the VVIP flight carrying Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to make an emergency landing at Ashgabat International Airport in Turkmenistan on her way to attend the UN Water Summit in Budapest. The plane was carrying 99 passengers including the premier, and four cockpit crews, 20 cabin crews and four aircraft engineers. The fuel pressure of the aircraft was abnormally falling due to a technical glitch when it was flying over the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan border. The aircraft safely landed at Ashgabat airport for inspection and repairs. Four onboard flight engineers examined the engine and discovered a loose nut in the lubricant oil system. The engineers tightened the nut and replaced the lubricant oil. After completing the repairs, the captain operated a test flight for a final check-up. The entire procedure took a little over four hours. Three inquiry committees were formed following the incident – one by the Civil Aviation Ministry, one by Biman and another by the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh. Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon said Sunday that the incident was a result of negligence but he could not confirm whether it was committed intentionally. If there was any plan for sabotage, the government would ensure highest punishment to those responsible, Menon said, adding that the ministry’s probe committee found from CCTV footage that a huge gathering occurred when the craft had been checked by the Biman staff. At a programme Tuesday, the minister said that the national flag carrier lacked proper training. “Even our chief engineer does not have the licence to inspect particular VVIP flights,” Menon said.