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Air India crash final report misses one-year deadline

Philippine quake raised seabed 2m MANILA: A powerful earthquake that killed at least 61 people in the Philippines last week raised the seabed by as much as 2m, exposing coral and harming marine life. The 7.8-magnitude tremor in southern Mindanao island last Monday has also left at least 40 people missing. Local residents first reported the geological phenomenon known as “coastal uplift” two days after the quake, which extended the shoreline by as much as 200m in some places, the Environment Department said. A shifting of the Cotabato Trench “pushed upward part of the coastlines of Sarangani and Davao Occidental (provinces) ... exposing the bottom of the sea that was originally submerged”, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said in a statement. “Approximately 2m was the mapped uplift.” The Cotabato Trench, which lies as close as 50km off the coast of southern Mindanao, is the site of frequent seismic activity, including a “swarm” of thousands of mostly small earthquakes recorded in January. A team dispatched to the area “found that long stretches of shoreline, coral reef and seagrass beds have been exposed”, the Environment Department said. Images released by the department’s regional office showed a large swathe of exposed coral with dead fish and other aquatic life lying on top. Residents initially reported the changes to the seabed out of concern that they might be poisoned by the fumes from decaying sea life. – AFP NEW DELHI NAMES DHIRAJ SETH ARMY CHIEF HYDERABAD: The Indian government named Lt-Gen Dhiraj Seth as the new army chief to replace Gen Upendra Dwivedi, who is retiring at the end of this month. Seth, who is serving as the vice-chief of the army staff, will assume his new role on June 30, according to a Ministry of Defence statement. He was commissioned into the Armoured Corps in December 1986 and has experience “across the operational, strategic, capability development and institutional domains” in a career spanning four decades. Seth is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy in Khadakwasla, Maharashtra. As a lieutenant general, he commanded the Sudarshan Chakra Corps, an elite unit, and later served as General Officer Commanding of the Delhi area, overseeing national and international military engagements. – Bernama GERMAN PRESIDENT HEADS TO JAKARTA BERLIN: German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier left yesterday for a five-day trip to Asia, with stops in Indonesia, the Philippines and Uzbekistan. Steinmeier will be accompanied by his wife Elke Budenbender and a business delegation, his office said. A key focus of Steinmeier’s visit to Jakarta will be the peaceful coexistence of different religions. In Manila, he plans to visit a Lufthansa production facility and meet Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa. The final stop on Steinmeier’s trip is the Uzbek capital Tashkent, where the president plans to visit a branch of German construction company GP Gunter Papenburg, among other engagements. The visit is expected to focus on skilled labour migration. – Bernama

o Bereaved families kept waiting for answers

It also urged all stakeholders, including the media and the public, to refrain from speculation or premature conclusions while the investigation remains in progress. The International Civil Aviation Organisation’s standards require investigators to produce the final accident report within a year of a crash. If they can’t, they must release an update on the inquiry on every anniversary of the disaster. The regulations also require the final accident report to reveal the probable cause and offer recommendations on avoiding similar incidents. A team of lawyers representing a large group of bereaved families said the focus remains on the lack of answers and transparency. “One year on, bereaved families are still waiting for meaningful answers about how and why this tragedy occurred,” said lawyers Sarah Stewart and Peter Neenan. “While aviation rules anticipate the publication of a report or, where this is not possible, an interim update on each anniversary, no such update has been issued. For bereaved families, who have endured 12 months of uncertainty, the absence of clear findings only reinforces the sense of frustration and unanswered questions. – The Independent

“On this solemn occasion, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau expresses its deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of all those who lost their lives,” it said in an interim statement on the one-year anniversary. “We also acknowledge the enduring pain and loss suffered by all those affected. “Over the past year, the investigation team has undertaken an extensive and rigorous examination of all relevant technical, operational, organisational and human factors associated with the accident. “Significant progress has been made in the examination and analysis of aircraft systems, flight recorder data, engine-related components, maintenance and operational records, and other evidence relevant to the investigation.” The statement added that evidence gathered and the results of various examinations are being analysed in a comprehensive and integrated manner by the investigators. “The final report will be released upon completion of all investigative activities and the requisite international review and consultation processes. “Every aspect of the accident will be examined with the utmost care and diligence.”

NEW DELHI: The investigative agency probing the Air India crash that killed 260 people said it made “significant progress” in analysing the evidence but the final report is yet to be released, a year after the deadliest aviation disaster in India. The update was issued by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) on Friday, the first anniversary of the crash of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner bound to Gatwick airport from India’s western city of Ahmedabad. The plane crashed on June 12 last year just 6km away from the airport into a doctors’ accommodation at Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College and Civil Hospital, killing more people on the ground. A total of 241 passengers and crew members died, along with 19 people on the ground. Only one person, a British citizen of Indian origin, miraculously survived the crash that left behind a huge pile of plane debris, mangled with concrete from the building.

BR I E F S

EVERY TREE COUNTS ...

University students planting mangrove saplings at a park in Banda Aceh on Friday. – AFPPIC

Taiwan launches intel report website TAIPEI: Taiwan’s government launched a website yesterday to encourage Chinese nationals to report intelligence tips, saying it was offering a secure channel to what it says is an increasing number of people who are fed up with the system and want change. agencies in Taiwan, wishing to provide various types of information.” China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The website opens to a one-minute promotional video that the bureau said was AI generated, showing a Chinese civil servant witnessing colleagues being investigated and removed from their posts.

The website is blocked in China, though many Chinese use VPNs to access other blocked sites like Western social media and search engines. The bureau called on Chinese nationals at home or abroad to “actively provide information and make changes with courage”. It said the new tactic was following the lead of agencies in such countries as the US, Britain and Israel. The channel enables Chinese nationals to provide intelligence-related information to “expand the bureau’s diverse intelligence sources”, it said. China has tried similar tactics itself. In 2024, China announced an email address where people could report tipoffs about crimes committed by Taiwan “separatists”. – Reuters

Taiwan and China have long spied on each other, and Taiwan in particular has reported an increased number of Chinese espionage cases. Taiwan’s National Security Bureau said on its website that in recent years, China’s economy has faced growing difficulties, while political control has remained “tight”. “Coupled with a growing range of social and livelihood-related problems, these conditions have fuelled public discontent,” said a statement in Chinese and English.“As a result, an increasing number of individuals have approached relevant

“Ah, yet another person has been taken away,” the unnamed civil servant says in a northern Chinese accent, with subtitles in the simplified characters used in China. “The old comrades are inexplicably vanishing one by one,” the narrator says. The video ends with the official buying a mobile phone and typing on it, saying: “Now is the time to change.”