Crash victims were asphyxiated

Bajpe: Asphyxiation caused the deaths of most of the passengers aboard Air IndiaBoeing 737-800 and not burns (due to fire), said Dhananjaya Shanbhog, chief fire officer, Airports Authority of India (AAI), here on Tuesday.
Deposing before the Court of Inquiry which is conducting a three-day public hearing into the May 22 crash, which killed 158 passengers on board IX 812, Shanbhog said most of the bodies he found on the ill-fated aircraft were suggestive that asphyxiation was the main reason. "In case of fire/burns, there would have been attempts to get away to safety. Smoke-caused asphyxiation may have lowered their (victims') response to react quickly to the situation,'' he said.
The Court of Inquiry is headed by retired Air Marshal B N Gokhale. The fire officer said the first fire vehicle had reached the accident spot (Ground Zero) within four minutes, but most of the passengers were dead by that time due to asphyxiation. "We recovered the body of a girl, who was declared dead later. Because we reached in quick time, we could recover many bodies which otherwise would have been reduced to ashes,'' he said, asserting that there was no delay on their part.
Shanbhog also squarely blamed the narrow and potholed approach roads to Ground Zero, which delayed their rescue mission.
17/08/10 Times of India

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