Cockpit Voice Recorder Recovered from Crashed Air India Flight as Investigators Probe Cause of Tragedy

Investigators have recovered the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) from the wreckage of the Air India flight that crashed last week, marking a significant development in the effort to determine the cause of the devastating accident.

The CVR, housed within the aircraft’s second black box, was located on Sunday, according to Indian aviation authorities. The flight data recorder, the first black box, had already been retrieved within 28 hours of the crash, which occurred last Thursday in Ahmedabad and claimed the lives of at least 279 people.

The majority of the victims were passengers on Flight AI171, which was en route to London Gatwick. All but one of those on board perished when the Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed into residential buildings shortly after a failed takeoff.

Flight captain Sumeet Sabharwal issued a mayday call just seconds after liftoff, signaling an emergency before the aircraft lost control.

While officials have not yet released concrete findings, the investigation—being led by Indian authorities in collaboration with counterparts from the UK and the US—is reportedly zeroing in on potential engine failure, as well as possible malfunctions involving the wing flaps and landing gear.

It is considered one of the deadliest aviation disasters in recent history.

As of Monday, many families of the 279 confirmed victims—including 38 people killed on the ground—were still awaiting DNA test results to formally identify their loved ones. Only around 80 victims had been positively identified by Sunday evening, according to Dr. Rajnish Patel of Ahmedabad Civil Hospital.

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“This is a sensitive and painstaking process that must be handled with great care,” Patel explained.

Recovery and identification efforts continue as investigators analyze the black boxes to uncover the chain of events that led to the fatal crash.