'WATER LEAK BEHIND AIR INDIA CRASH'

Lawyer says pilots are being blamed unfairly

- BY DAN WARBURTON

THE Air India crash that killed 260 people may have been caused by a water leak, a lawyer representing victims' families claims.

Mike Andrews added Capt Sumeet Sabharwal, 55, and copilot Clive Kunder, 32, have been unfairly blamed.

An initial report suggested that the Boeing 787 Dreamliner plunged to the ground in Ahmedabad in India shortly after takeoff in June because Mr Sabharwal turned off a fuel switch.

US lawyer Andrews, an aviation expert representing over 90 victims including some of the 52 Brits who died, said there is not enough evidence to say pilot error was the cause.

He claims a faulty water system, highlighted by US agency the Federal Aviation Administration a month before the crash, may have shorted the electrics and cut power to the engines.