by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 11:20 AM ET, Thu July 17, 2025
New details from the tragic crash of Air India Flight 171 that left 260 dead with a sole survivor this June found that the captain might have turned off the fuel to both engines just after takeoff, according to reports about what the black box recorded.
The news was first published by The Wall Street Journal and later by ABC News. A preliminary report released last week found that the fuel was shut off quickly after liftoff from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.
According to the cockpit recording, one of the pilots asked the other why he had hit the cutoff switch. The other pilot responded that he did not do so.
The WSJ report stated that the conversation "between the flight's two pilots indicates it was the captain who turned off switches that controlled fuel flowing to the plane's two engines.”
Ten seconds later, the report states that fuel flow was restored and an automatic restart sequence initiated. Just over 20 seconds after the cutoff switch was hit, one of the pilots transmitted a mayday call, and the black box stopped recording just seconds later, when the plane crashed and killed everyone onboard as well as 19 others on the ground.
The sole survivor was 40-year-old passenger Vishwas Kumar Ramesh, who was quickly taken to the hospital. He lost his brother in the crash.
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