Global News Podcast - Air India crash report: fuel switches cut off after takeoff

Episode Date: July 11, 2025

A first report into the Air India crash finds fuel switches were in cut off position just after takeoff. Also, President Trump visits flood victims in Texas, and how emergency vaccines have saved thousands of lives.

You're listening to the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. This edition is published in the early hours of Saturday, the 12th of July. A report into the Air India crash last month says the fuel supply was switched off just after takeoff on a visit to Texas with the first lady. President Trump dismisses a question about the effectiveness of flood warnings. And Palestinian officials told the BBC that Gaza ceasefire negotiations are on the effectiveness of flood warnings. And Palestinian officials tell the BBC that Gaza ceasefire negotiations are on the verge of collapse.

Also in this podcast. This is extremely significant. It's the first time that we have a clear picture of what timely access to vaccines through a stockpile in an outbreak situation can really do. A new study finds that emergency vaccinations have saved hundreds of thousands of lives. One month ago Air India Flight 171 plunged into a building seconds after taking off from Ahmedabad Airport. 260 people died, including all but one

person on board. An initial report released in India in the early hours of Saturday says both fuel control switches in the cockpit were moved to the cutoff position just after takeoff. This caused both engines to lose thrust. In the voice recording one of the pilots is heard asking the other why he did the cutoff. The other pilot responded that he didn't. So what does it all mean? David Gleave is an aviation safety investigator. I'm not ruling out the possibility of some software issue or an electrical arcing problem or something like that causing the signals to the relevant computers

from sending that type of signal. The one second time gap is typically associated with how frequently the switch positions are sampled. So it could have been almost instantaneous. It could have been within, almost next to each other or within two seconds, depending on where within the one second sampling time they were switched or it could be some form of human deliberate act. At the moment a lot of analysis will go in to say how could this have happened electrically or electronically as well

as human intervention. We do have the finding though relating to the voice box recording where one pilot asks the other why did you switch that off and the other says I didn't switch it off which would suggest that it wasn't a human intervention there. How critical is that to the takeoff of a plane that those buttons are flicked on and off whether it's by human or an electronic failure or a software issue? Well essentially it's the same as the the key switch in your car. Switching the engines off is done directly through those particular buttons. So it's essential that when the signal that the engines receive is that they are to be kept on.

Certainly the recycling of the buttons from off to on again happens if you have a double engine failure with the procedures on board that aeroplane. So it's absolutely critical that the switch remains and the sensors detect that the switch remains in that on position. Aviation safety investigator David Gleave talking to the BBC's Katrina Perry. Well I heard more from our correspondent in Delhi, Samira Hussain. This is very much a preliminary report, but what we can really see is that the focus of the investigation is concentrating on what was happening in the cockpit. We heard that the fuel engines were switched from the run position to that cutoff position. Then there was a conversation between the two pilots. One pilot saying to the other, why is it that

that was switched? The other pilot saying, I did not make that switch. And then they put those engines, the fuel engines, from that cutoff position back into the run position. And it takes a little bit of time when the plane is already in the air for that to sort of reignite and for it to be able to fly and it was just time that they did not have on that plane so if you go back and remember some of the video that we saw we saw that the plane had taken off and then it was this gentle kind of come down and then the crash when it finally hit the ground. So the investigators will want to know why those switches went to the off position?

Absolutely. There was of course a lot of question whether there was some fault with the plane and based on this preliminary report it seems that there wasn't anything particularly wrong with this plane. However, the report did mention that in 2018, the FAA, which is the American Aviation Regulator, had said that there is an issue with these switches and that there needs to be a certain kind of maintenance that needs to be done with regards to these switches. Now of course one of the

questions will be whether or not that was done on this particular fleet. Now this report came out very late at night where you are. What's likely to be the reaction? I think a lot of people are going to be waking up to the news of this report especially for so many of the family members of victims from that plane crash who are still here in India. You know, ahead of this report, I spoke with one woman who lost her husband on that flight, and she is now taking care of her 11-year-old son. And, you know, she tearfully described what it's like

to hear these questions that are coming from her son about why her daddy died and why wasn't the plane taken care of. And with regards to the upcoming report, I asked her what it would mean, and she said, ultimately, it's not gonna bring my husband back. Ultimately, it's not gonna bring back

the number of people that have died as a result of that plane crash and for her the questions are certainly going to be, you know, if there was something wrong with the plane why weren't the appropriate checks made. Samira Hussain in Delhi talking to me in the early hours of Saturday morning. On Friday, eight days after Texas was hit by deadly floods, President Trump traveled to the scene with the First Lady to meet relatives of some of the 120 people who died. 160 others are still missing. The presidential couple saw for themselves some of the destruction before joining a meeting with local officials and emergency workers. President Trump tried to defend the response of the authorities amid questions about the impact of government cuts. And he lashed out when asked by CBS News whether more lives could have been saved if flood warnings had been received earlier. Only a bad person would ask a question like that, to be honest with you. I don't know

who you are, but only a very evil person would ask a question like that. I think this has been heroism. It's easy to sit back and say, oh, what could have happened here or there? Maybe we could have done something differently. This was a thing that has never happened before. The first lady, Melania Trump, struck a very different tone when she talked about meeting survivors. We pray with them. We hug. We hold hands.

And I met beautiful young ladies. They gave me this special bracelet from the camp in honour of all of the little girls that they lost their lives. I will be back, I promise to them and I just pray for them and giving them my strength and love. Our correspondent Nomiya Iqbal was in Texas for the visit. I asked her about President Trump's reaction to questions about the response to the deadly floods. There are lots of concerns about the warning systems. Were they weakened because of cuts that have been made to various federal agencies.

And so it's interesting because Mr. Trump is obviously very quick to give his opinion on things, but when it comes to this, it was a sensitive spot for him. And it's such a contrast as well, because here it's obviously a red state. It's a state that has consistently voted for Donald Trump. He lavished praise on the Republican governor, Greg Abbott, a very different contrast, as I say, to the way he treated the Democratic governor Gavin Newsom when California was struck by wildfires.

Then he was very much doing the blame game. But like I say, there are real questions here about exactly what went wrong but not just that people here tell us that they want help by the government by President Trump to help them rebuild their lives so many tragic stories you know obviously people are still missing and people have lost their livelihoods here as well. Yeah he's previously criticized the way that the disaster response agency FEMA handles things. Has he rethought that now? Well it's interesting because he very much has opinions on FEMA and he has talked for a long time about

cutting the agency but he's been pretty quiet about it this time round and there are even some reports that suggest he might be backtracking from that plan entirely, that he may not actually cut it in the end. And if that's the case then it's interesting because I do think presidents are often defined by the way they handle these sorts of disasters and he's come here and he's probably sensed the mood perhaps. I mean, look, there's lots of people here that still support him and love him and are very excited to see him. But he has perhaps sensed that mood and seen disaster up close and personal. And if he does do a U-turn, it's not the first time that he's done it since returning to office.

He's done U-turns on many other things. He kind of changes the goalposts to fit the occasion. And was he able to show empathy during this visit in the same way that Melania Trump was? I think so. When he sat down he looked quite pale at one point. He looked visibly moved and shocked at what he had seen and and he expressed that. He expressed his anguish about what had happened and so I think in many ways that's probably why he lashed out to the reporter for asking that question. Reporters ask those questions, they're allowed to, but as I say is also a very

sensitive spot for him because there are there are criticisms in terms of how elected officials here have handled it as well as the federal government. Nomiye Iqbal in Texas. Vaccine skepticism may be on the rise but a new study has found that emergency inoculations have saved hundreds of thousands of lives in recent decades. Analysis of outbreaks of five diseases between the year 2000 and 2023 concluded that vaccinations had reduced cases and deaths by an average of nearly 60 percent. They also significantly limited the outbreaks. I heard more about the research from our global health correspondent Dominic Hughes. It's really an examination of the impact that vaccines have had on emergency outbreaks. So if we look at, for example, the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa,

that occurred before a vaccine was available. It caused more than 11,000 deaths. But since then, a vaccine has been developed and rolled out, and the impact of that has been really stark. So this is what researchers say is the first comprehensive study of this emergency vaccination program. They looked at seven subsequent Ebola outbreaks where vaccines were available, and they found that both deaths and infections had been cut by more than 75 per cent, by three quarters. The study also looked at measles, cholera, yellow fever and meningitis, 210 different incidents in all from 2000 to 2023 in 49 different countries and overall deaths were reduced by nearly 60 percent, that's around 327 000 people and the number of cases by a very similar percentage and the swift deployment of

vaccines also appears to have halted wider outbreaks. And that's really important because that has led to significant economic benefits too, worth an estimated $30 billion, mainly from averting deaths and years of life lost to disability. But even that figure could be a significant underestimate of overall savings because it just doesn't take into account the costs of dealing with, for example, a wider outbreak or the economic disruption caused by a more serious health emergency. Now this study was backed by GAVI, which is an international public-private vaccine alliance. The main funders have been up until now, the UK, the US governments, the Bill and Melinda

Gates Foundation. It was responsible for many of these programmes and GAVI's Dr Derek Simm says it proves now just how important quick and effective vaccine rollouts can be. This report is yet another piece of scientific evidence that demonstrates the value of vaccines and its role in preventing disease. In this case, preventing outbreaks, nipping them in a bud to prevent the spread of disease and crossing borders. This is extremely significant. It's the first time that we have a clear picture of what timely access to vaccines through a stockpile in an outbreak situation can really do. Derek Simm from GAVI. So it shows what it can do, but it's not all good news.

No, it's not because GAVI is currently trying to secure a fresh round of funding and it's doing that in the face of global cuts to foreign aid, but also growing vaccine scepticism, not least from one of the most important public health officials in the United States, if not the most, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Now he's previously announced that the US won't be providing additional funding to Gavi unless it changes its evaluation of vaccine science and safety, among other issues. But the World Health Organisation also says that there is a growing number of people who will not accept a vaccine, that that number has risen dramatically since 2010, and we've seen that vaccine scepticism growing as well.

So there are issues on the horizon there. Yeah, the vaccine scepticism in the US growing despite a big increase in the number of measles cases there? Yeah, measles cases well over 1200, the highest since that childhood disease was declared eliminated in the US in 2000. That is really concerning because it shows the level of vaccine scepticism which also seems to be a political issue as well. And I think parents forget just how terrible measles can be, that it can leave children with lifelong injury and disability, but also it can lead to death in rare cases. So there is real concern about that measles outbreak in the United States. Our global health correspondent Dominic Hughes. On Thursday, as he prepared to leave Washington, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

stated that a Gaza ceasefire deal with Hamas to release the remaining hostages could be just a few days away. But now Palestinian officials have told the BBC indirect talks between both sides in Qatar are on the brink of collapse. Emiye Nade reports from Jerusalem. On one key point of contention, the withdrawal of troops, a Palestinian official said the Israeli delegation presented a map which would allow it to effectively maintain control of around 40% of the Gaza Strip, including a number of cities.

The officials also called an Israeli proposal to create a so-called humanitarian city in Rafah as a trap and a clear plan for the forced displacement of Palestinians. Yesterday in the United States, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had maintained a positive tone, telling hostage families that a deal was just a few days away. One of the Palestinian officials who spoke to the BBC said Israel was using the ongoing ceasefire talks in Doha to buy time. Our correspondent Eme Inada in Jerusalem. And still to come on the Global News Podcast. There's a mistaken perception that there are two conflicting interests at play here, transportation

and protecting our cultural heritage. But our study shows there's actually no conflict at all. On the contrary, they support each other. The campaign to save an industrial landmark in the Czech capital Prague. The civil war in Sudan has been going on for more than two years leading to what's been described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. But now there are reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes are being committed according to thecutor of the International Criminal Court. Nasad Shamim Khan told the UN Security Council it was hard to find the appropriate word to describe the suffering in the western region of Darfur.

She referred to a recent war crimes trial against a leader of the Janjaweed militia, Ali Kusheib. To those on the ground in Darfur now, to those who are inflicting unimaginable atrocities on its population, they may feel a sense of impunity at this moment, but we are working intensively to ensure that the Ali Kusheb trial represents only the first of many in relation to this situation at the International Criminal Court. The conflict between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary rapid support forces has led to famine being declared in parts of Sudan. The UN Children's Agency UNICEF says the number

of severely malnourished children in North Darfur has doubled. Eva Heinz is the chief of communications for UNICEF in Sudan. It is particularly difficult for children who are often the most vulnerable. And we've seen that since April, the conflict in particularly in North Darfur and around Al-Fasher and the camps surrounding it, it's really intensified. And we've seen entire neighborhoods that have been cut off from aid, hospitals have been bombed, roads have been blocked. It's nearly impossible to get any aid in because there

are attacks on convoys and this of course makes it difficult for children to get any water, any food, any health care and that's why we are seeing these very alarming numbers when we are talking about malnutrition and large number of children grappling with it. Well the town of Tawila has been overwhelmed by hundreds of thousands of people fleeing violence and famine elsewhere in Sudan, as we heard from our deputy Africa editor, Ansoi. Tawila is a small town in North Darfur which is under the control of an armed group that is not affiliated to either RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces. That is where many people have found a safe haven after a big camp that was hosting internally displaced people in Zamzam was overrun by RSF and so people fled there as well as from the North Darfur city of Al Fashar.

And so since April the Norwegian Refugee Council is saying that Tawila has taken close to 400,000 people and you can imagine the strain they have put on the services. There's a lack of water, latrines for people, children just stopped going to school and there's food shortages. And some of these people were fleeing from areas that were farming, had already been declared like Zamzam, and so they were already desperate. But when you speak to many Sudanese, they are particularly concerned about the now. Are they going to survive to see tomorrow? They need food.

They need every form of help they can receive. And then they were devastated again when the aid cuts were announced. And so you're talking about very desperate cases who just need something to survive and then, you you know having to deal with all these international developments. So the vast majority of people right now would be thinking about survival, about food, but at the back of their minds they also want justice. Very many women in Tawila, the ones who have fled to Tawila, have been reporting of rape as they escaped so they survived

the war but many of them are being raped along the way. Some have died along the way they talked of seeing bodies as they fled to Tawila. I spoke to one woman who said that she had rescued a baby they found by the roadside whose mother had died. This child was roughly six months old. Anne Soy our deputy Africa editor. The Greek Parliament has approved legislation suspending the processing of new asylum claims from migrants arriving by boat from North Africa. It follows a surge of migrants arriving in Crete. Here's our Europe regional editor Danny Aberhart.

The Greek government says it's facing an emergency. More than 2,600 migrants have reached Crete already this month. This new measure, passed by a large majority, will initially last for three months, during which new arrivals will be detained ahead of planned repatriations. The government said it will send a clear signal to people smuggling networks and migrants whose money would be wasted. Greece, said Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, was not an open corridor to Europe. Rights groups say the measure violates the country's obligations under international law.

The UN's refugee agency said it's seriously concerned. It acknowledges the pressure on Crete, but says the ability to seek asylum is a fundamental human right. And it stresses that many of those crossing from North Africa are fleeing war and persecution, including refugees from Sudan. Danny Eberhardt, UNESCO has chosen two places in Africa, one in Cameroon, one in Malawi as World Heritage Sites to try to boost the continent's representation on

the list. Rachel Wright has the details. The Deegid B landscape of the Mandara Mountains in the far north of Cameroon are the ruins of dry stone round structures thought to have been built between the 12th and the 17th centuries by the ancestors of the Mafa people. They're surrounded by agricultural terraces and sites of worship. The new addition to UNESCO's list had been joined by Mount Mulanji, the highest peak in Malawi, considered by locals to be sacred. Being deemed a World Heritage Site often leads to lucrative tourism drives and can unlock funding. UNESCO says it's trying

to increase the number of African sites on the World Heritage List. Rachel Wright The Czech capital Prague is known as one of Europe's best preserved cities, with most tourists making a beeline for the 14th century Charles Bridge. But another bridge is making headlines there, the Visehrad railway bridge, whose iconic steel arches have been part of the Prague skyline for well over a century. The railway authorities want to tear it down and build a new one, but fans of the industrial landmark are fighting back. From Prague, Rob Cameron has this report.

A passenger train rumbles over Visehrad railway bridge. For the past 123 years, the key rail link across the river Vltava, from the main station on one side of the river to Smikhov station on the other, and from there westwards on to Pilsen, Kalavivari and Germany. But the steel bridge carries around three quarters of Prague's railway traffic, and after decades of neglect, the rusty arches are truly showing their age. The railway administration says the beams, joints and rivets are now so corroded they need to remove the bridge altogether and build a new one on the existing stone pillars.

Architect and bridge engineer Petr Tej says that's totally unnecessary. These joints are most impacted by rust, so previous expert reports say that 70% of steel should be replaced, but according to our study only 15% of the steel works needs to be changed. That's a huge difference. It's a huge difference, yeah. PETA is part of an initiative called the Visehrad Bridge Foundation which has assembled an international coalition of experts who've restored similar bridges all over the world. They say repairing rather than replacing the Visehrad Bridge

will be quicker, cheaper and can even be done without stopping the trains. Their conclusions are endorsed by UNESCO, which protects much of the ancient Czech capital, as well as 25,000 residents who signed a petition in favour. But the railway administration remains unmoved. Pavel Pajdar is the director of the construction preparation department. is the director of the construction preparation department. Thanks to its condition, the bridge is currently carrying just 60% of its capacity, which, with the projected growth in rail travel, is becoming a major transport problem.

Yes, it's a protected historical monument, but it's becoming increasingly clear that it's simply not possible to reconcile these two things. If rail transport is to develop as projected, meaning if the bridge is expected to carry up to twice as many trains by 2030, then it must undergo major reconstruction." Visualisations suggest the planned new bridge, complete with added third rail, will closely resemble the old one and will be part of a total redevelopment of the whole riverside area. But Visehrad Bridge Foundation co-founder Tomáš Bystritsky is convinced all that can be done without losing the original.

You know, there's a mistaken perception that there are two conflicting interests at play here, transportation and protecting our cultural heritage. But our study shows there's actually no conflict at all. On the contrary, they support each other. It proved the bridge, once repaired, can serve for another hundred years. It'll be capable of handling all transport loads. And it also turned out to be much cheaper." The fate of the Visehrad railway bridge arouses particularly strong emotions in an architectural

gem such as Prague. Ultimately, and perhaps sooner rather than later, it's one that will have to be decided not by railway engineers or heritage campaigners but by the Czech government. Rob Cameron reporting. Thousands of athletes and spectators from around the world are arriving on the island of Orkney off the coast of Scotland for the Island Games. The week-long tournament, which gets underway on Saturday, will see competitors from 24 islands around the world compete in a range of events. More details from Chris McLennan. The Island Games is an Olympic-style event for small islands from across the globe, with around 2,000 athletes gathering in Orkney to take part in a week of fierce competition. Athletes from islands including the Falklands and St Helena in the South Atlantic compete in events such as athletics, cycling and football, as well as archery and

lawn bowls. There is also one very big island involved, Greenland. The Games were held in Guernsey two years ago, but they haven't visited Scotland for two decades. The event has been years in the planning with the final preparations being put in place, as Kirsty Talbot, director of Orkney 2025 explains. Oh we're ready, we're ready. The build is all on schedule, the sports are good and they're ready to go. Just a few finishing touches now. From the moment they step off the plane where we've got our welcome teams right through to the venues with other volunteers on hand to help them, as well as the community. People have been pulling out all the stops, decorating everywhere, helping our visitors. It's all these wee things that will make

a difference and I think they'll really enjoy their Orkadian welcome. And with thousands already on the streets of Kirkwall, some taking part in an impromptu cricket match, excitement is building. There's a real buzz about the place, it's really good. I quite enjoy seeing our list of our own. It's good to see different coaches and stuff that are in there. It just feels a lot busier and everyone's like, you know, really happy. The kids are very excited for all the games and stuff, so it's going to be great.

I'm so glad I'm going to see it because we'll never have it again. I hope they enjoy Orkney and I hope their caddys and smugglers feel welcome. The games swell the population of Orkney, a shade under 22,000 by a huge amount. One of the biggest challenges has been accommodation, with classrooms and gym halls in four schools converted into dormitories. One interesting fact to leave you with, also competing in the island games, is Gibraltar, which, the last time I looked at an atlas, is not an island. Chris McLennan in Scotland. And that is all from us for now, but the Global News podcast will be back at the same time

tomorrow. This edition was mixed by Zabih Buna-Khurush and produced by Stephanie Zacharison and Stephanie Tillotson. Our editors, Karen Martin. I'm Oliver Conway. Until next time, goodbye.