'Flight test taken despite bad weather': Pilot's husband holds UY Aviation responsible

The plane reportedly belongs to Uttar Pradesh government.

Indian rescue workers and firemen gather around the wreckage of a small plane that crashed into a construction site, killing five people, in Mumbai on June 28, 2018. A small plane crashed into a construction site in a densely populated area of India's financial capital Mumbai on June 28, killing five people, officials said. / AFP PHOTO / INDRANIL MUKHERJEE

Mumbai: At least five people were killed in a small chartered plane crash in the thickly populated suburb of Ghatkopar in north-east Mumbai on Thursday. The plane came down mere six minutes after take-off. Maria Kuber, the pilot used presence of mind to avert a very big disaster by trying to land near the under-construction building and not near the highly-populated localities. Unfortunately, she too lost her life in the tragic accident. "Two pilots, two Aircraft Maintenance Engineers on board & one person on ground are dead in the chartered plane crash in Mumbai's Ghatkopar," said Directorate General of Civil Aviation to news agency ANI.

Names of the deceased: Pradeep Rajput - Co-pilot Surabhi - Technician Maria Kuber - Pilot Manish Pandey - Technician

Names of two injured are - Luvkush Kumar and Naresh Kumar Nishad#Mumbai #Ghatkopar #ghatkoparplanecrash LIVE Coverage: https://t.co/JQJlKZeiOk pic.twitter.com/EQHEhrEZQ6 — ABP News (@abpnewstv) June 28, 2018

UY Aviation Pvt Ltd King Air C-90 aircraft VT-UPZ has met with an accident at Mumbai.Operator bought this aircraft from UP Govt .The aircraft took off from Juhu airport for test flight. 2 pilots, 2 AMEs on board.All on board along with one civilian are dead @abpnewstv @abpmajhatv

— Ganesh Thakur (@7_ganesh) June 28, 2018

Sources say UP govt had sold this aircraft to an aviation company in Mumbai. The plane had some technical issues, was rebuilt and taken off for testing when this incident took place @abpnewstv @abpmajhatv

— Ganesh Thakur (@7_ganesh) June 28, 2018

Eyewitnesses at Sarvodaya Nagar said the plane was seen hurtling down amid rain and crashed with a deafening roar before bursting into flames at around 1.30 p.m. Local residents said they heard two to three explosions and assumed it was a gas cylinder blast. The cause of which is not known - occurred in the premises of a building under construction. As per preliminary information, the aircraft was on a test flight and had taken off from the Juhu Airport minutes before it crashed, reported news agency IANS. ABP News Sources said the aircraft did not belong to UP Govt. It was sold in 2014 to a private company UY Aviation. UY aviation is owned by one Kothari. Disturbing visuals of a man caught on fire emerged after the crash. He was also said to be killed in the crash. It appears he was a worker at the construction site as a measuring tape was found from his pocket. He has been identified as Govind Pandit. The plane reportedly belongs to Uttar Pradesh government. A DGCA team on way to Mumbai for preliminary investigation into plane crash,"said DG Civil Aviation B S Bhullar to news agency PTI. "Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau to conduct detailed probe into the crash, " he said. Investigators have found the black box that provides invaluable data and helps in figuring out what led to the crash.

Flash - Visual of the Black box (flight recorder) recovered from the plane crash site at Mumbai's Ghatkopar. LIVE Coverage: https://t.co/JQJlKZeiOk pic.twitter.com/TbK9kgQgFJ

— ABP News (@abpnewstv) June 28, 2018

'UY Aviation responsible for crash' Pilot Maria Kuber’s husband Prabhat Kathuria has blamed the company UY Aviation for her death as the aircraft was not prepared for a test flight considering bad weather. Kathuria said he had spoken to Captain Pradeep Rajput and Maria last night and both were certain of the test flight not taking place on Thursday. Kathuria said UY Avitation despite noting bad weather forced the pilots and technicians to take off the flight further which the tragedy took place. He said the comapny's CEO Anil Chauhan did not even meet the grieving family members following the mishap.

The incident could have been averted. Maria had told me that the flight won't be flown due to bad weather. The aviation company is responsible for this unfortunate incident: P Kuthariya, Husband of pilot killed in chartered plane crash in Mumbai earlier today pic.twitter.com/1i1TwDA7Yx

— ANI (@ANI) June 28, 2018

Maria had 1,000-hours of flight experience. She had shifted to Mumbai 15 years ago. Kathuria said she left their Mira Road residence at 8 am in the morning. He messaged her "Where are you"at 1 pm but did not receive any response from her. Visuals of the crash below: