Ahmedabad: Aviation lawyer Mike Andrews from Beasley Allen Law Firm in the US, on Sunday met the families of victims of the doomed AI171 flight in Diu and Ahmedabad. He is representing 70-odd families. Talking to TOI, Andrews – who also represented families of victims in the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 crash, which killed 157 people – said the primary focus for him is to get the data related to the flight to ‘give closure to the families and demand accountability from those responsible.’ Andrews also met Vishwaskumar Ramesh, the sole survivor of the crash, at his residence in Diu on Sunday.”The Boeing 787 is built as one of the most complicated, complex, electrically driven flying computers essentially. And there are so many ways a computer can fail.”

He gave an example from the 2019 Boeing 787 crash where the plane suffered dual-engine power failure soon after take-off, and the reason was traced to a malfunctioning throttle control system. “We want to know whether that happened here (in Ahmedabad), and to what extent computers made the decisions,” he said.

One of the angles explored by him involves the presence of moisture or water. Andrews said that it’s a well-known fact that it can affect electronic systems. “If it can affect lights, it’s okay, but we want to know whether it can cause a short circuit and affect the flight, including shutting the engine off. That’s a problem. There was a buzz in the media about the shutting off of the fuel switch. The flight data will help us find answers,” he added.

He said that currently, they are using multiple ways to gather the data required. “We will first approach Air India for the data. Approaching the judiciary and authorities will be the later option. Currently, we are representing more than 70 affected families who are primarily from Gujarat and some from the UK. They deserve closure,” said Andrews. On his visit to Diu, he met Viswashkumar Ramesh along with the families of other victims from the union territory. “We were approached by community leaders who asked us to meet Ramesh as he does not meet or talk to anyone. We went to his home and had a brief meeting with him. They are a humble and hardworking family struggling with grief and tragedy. It was a moving experience,” said Andrews, adding that he did not meet Ramesh on Sunday in the capacity of a lawyer. Andrews was in Gujarat in July too when he visited the crash site in Meghaninagar.”We are talking to families of the victims and some have received compensation. But there are many instances where they have not – we met an elderly woman in Diu who is bedridden. The regular money from her son was the only way she could avail herself of medical care. It is important for such families,” he said.

He added that they are yet to gather all the data to fix an amount for the legal suit. “No amount can possibly be sufficient,” said Andrews.