Mumbai plane crash: Pilot Maria Zuberi's family says 'incident could have been averted'

PKuthariya, the husband of the co-pilot Maria Zuberi, 47, who was killed in the Chartered plane crash in Mumbai on Thursday claims that the unfortunate incident that killed her wife along with four others, could have been averted.

He said that before leaving her home Maria had told him that the test flight planned for the day may be postponed because of bad weather.

He also held the aviation company responsible for the crash.

He said, "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".

Maria Zuberi had 1,000 hours of flying experience for the past 17 years.

The co-pilot hailed from Allahabad and is survived by her husband and a 15-year-old daughter.

She was the first in her Muslim family to become a pilot.

Her co-pilot in the plane was Pradeep Rajput who had20-25 years of work experience.

A media report quoted P Kuthariya as saying that the chief pilot was never in favour of test flights because of the risks involved. He added that the chief pilot was even more adamant for not conducting a test flight on Thursday because of the bad weather.

Pradeep Rajput was a resident of Delhi and is survived by his wife, son and a daughter.

Former Minister of Civil Aviation Praful Patel had expressed his disappointment over the unfortunate demise of the two pilots.

His tweet read, "Saddened to hear about the unfortunate incident at #ghatkopar as Charter plane crashes in an open area. Salute to the pilot who showed presence of mind to avoid a big mishap, saving many lives at the cost of her own life. #RIP to all the 5 Dead. My deepest condolences".