Sagar Biswas :
An investigation committee formed by Bangladesh Biman has blamed ‘man-made-fault’ was the reason for an emergency landing of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s plane in Turkmenistan, officials said on Tuesday.
Based on the findings of the probe body’s final report, Biman’s three departmental heads, who are also the chief engineers of their own sections, have been suspended.
They are: Chief Engineer Debesh Chowdhury [Productions], Chief Engineer SA Siddique [Quality Assurance] and Principal Engineer Billal Hossain [Maintenance and System Control].
With them, a total of nine officials have so far been suspended in connection with the malfunction of an engine in the VVIP flight Boeing -777 ‘Ranga Pravat’ that was carrying Sheikh Hasina to Hungary, but made an emergency landing in Ashgabat, capital of central Asian country Turkmenistan, on November 27.
“The three departmental heads were suspended on Monday night following the decision of sub-committee after getting the final investigation report,” Biman Managing Director Captain [retd] Mosaddeq Ahmed said.
Officials said that the three engineers were suspended soon after the Biman four-member investigation committee led by Chief of Technical Captain Fazle Mahmud Chowdhury submitted the final report to Biman Managing Director Captain [retd] Mosaddeq Ahmed on December 12 night.
Other members of the committee are: Chief of Flight Safety Captain Shoaib Chowdhury, Deputy Chief of Engineering Mohammad Hanif and Manager [Quality Assurance] Niranjan Roy. Getting the report, the Biman Managing Board subcommittee sat in an emergency meeting and took decision for the suspension. Later, the final report was sent to the Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry on Wednesday.
When contacted, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister [MoCAT] told The New Nation on Wednesday evening: “We’ve heard that Biman inquiry committee has finalized their report. But I’ve not yet got the report. My ministry will take decision after receiving it.”
Replying to a question, Menon said: “Three investigating committees are working on the PM’s plane. Of them, the committee constituted by MoCAT is likely to submit their report on Thursday. Besides, the committee formed by the Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh [CAAB] may submit its report within one or two days-by Sunday.”
Earlier, five engineers and one technician were suspended for their alleged negligence, which caused the emergency landing of the VVIP plane. They are: Engineer SM Rakunuzzaman, Samiul Haque, Milon Chandra Biswas, Lutfar Rahman, Zakir Hossain and Technician Siddiqur Rahman.
The Biman authority took action against them when the Biman investigation committee submitted preliminary report to concerned ministry accusing the officials of negligence in duty.
The plane carrying PM had faced difficulty when a nut of a bolt in the oil passing pipe in engine no-01 was slacked almost in half with dropping the lubricant at zero level. It was noticed after the plane crossed Karachi flying at an altitude of 30,000 feet. The plane changed its route. After repairing, the plane reached Budapest in four hours delay.
On December 9, the PM told the Parliament: “A nut bolt of the engine came loose. We have received information from Boeing Company. They informed us that such an incident never happened in their 6,000 planes flying across the globe….It was created by humans, not a technical fault. No doubt, someone did this somehow.”
The Civil Aviation Minister while addressing the National Parliament also categorically blamed “human involvement” for the technical fault in the VVIP plane. He also said that the investigation committees will find out whether it was negligence, or sabotage.
