The release of the final accident report on the Gulf Air crash which killed 143 people last year is “imminent,” said a Bahraini aviation official on Wednesday.
The official told the Gulf Daily News that the Accident Investigation Board had scheduled meetings with concerned individuals and agencies next Wednesday and Thursday at the Civil Aviation Affairs (CAA) headquarters in Muharraq district in Manama.
“It will review its conclusions on the accident of August 23 last year, when Gulf Air Flight 072 en route from Cairo plunged into the sea less than a mile from the airport runway, killing all 135 passengers and eight crew members,” he said.
The final report could be released to the public as early as August 10, added the official.
The final report "will definitely" include the cause of the accident, he said.
However, a Gulf Air spokesman said the report was not expected to be published until early next month, said the paper.
Relatives of those killed in the crash are waiting anxiously to learn why the Airbus A320 crashed after it aborted its initial attempted landing, the paper said.
Assistant Undersecretary for Tourism Affairs Kadhem Rajab, who lost four relatives in the accident, said the big question that remains in his mind is “what happened, how it happened and who is responsible.”
"The families of the victims are entitled to know all the details," he told the paper.
"We have a right to know the truth."
The 90-page factual report of the crash was released on April 1, and contained all aspects of the investigation, but drew no conclusions. However, it did not find any fault with the aircraft or the engines.
The report was submitted in mid-December to National Transportation Board (NTSB) assistant deputy director Frank Hilldrup, who heads the investigation, and included the board's Technical Investigation Committee's (TIC) cockpit voice recorder/flight data recorder, air worthiness and operations sub-group findings.
It was compiled by more than 25 sub-group committees representing the NTSB, CAA, Gulf Air, Oman Civil Aviation, Bureau Enquetes-Accidents, Airbus Industrie and CFMI (the engine manufacturer) – Albawaba.com
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