Mumbai, June 29: The ill-fated aircraft, owned by UY Aviation Pvt Ltd (UYAPL) that crashed into an open space near Ghatkopar on Thursday, did not have a certificate of airworthiness. According to a report by TOI, Anil Chauhan, accountable manager of UY Aviation informed that the company had the ownership of the 26-year-old aircraft and it was under the care of Indamer,  the maintenance company.

Chauhan further informed that the aircraft was in the 'hangar of a maintenance company (Indamer) for over a year and a half as the aircraft was undergoing major repairs. He further informed that before its flight on Thursday, the aircraft would have been flown earlier with the Uttar Pradesh government about six years ago.

The aircraft, under maintenance with IAPL, was on a test flight and was preparing to land at Juhu Airport when the accident occurred. Chauhan informed that the aircraft was not yet handed over to them. Reports inform that the cause of the crash is not known and it occurred in the compound of the under-construction apartments, thereby averting a potentially major disaster.

Five persons, including a pregnant engineer and a pedestrian, were killed after the chartered plane went down near Jagruti building in Ghatkopar's Sarvodaya Nagar, where construction work was underway. The deceased ones have been identified as Capt Pradeep Rajput, with over 5,000 hours of flying experience, and Capt Mariya Zuberi, who was formerly with Jet Airways, said a UYAPL statement.

The others on board were aircraft maintenance engineer Surabhi, who was more than two months pregnant, and her colleague, aircraft junior technician Manish Pandey, both employees of Indamer Aviation Pvt Ltd (IAPL).

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 29, 2018 01:14 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).