INDIAN-ORIGIN FLIGHT STEWARD KILLED

Swapping shifts with a colleague cost Sanjid Singh Sandhu, 41, his life. His father Jijar Singh, who lives in Penang in Malaysia, said his mother had planned to cook him his favourite dishes when he got home.

NEW DELHI: India will review all sensitive flight paths operated by Indian carriers following the downing of a Malaysian jet over Ukraine on Thursday.

The decision was taken at a meeting of aviation ministry officials chaired by minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju on Friday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s aircraft overflew the Ukrainian airspace just half an hour before the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 was downed near the Russian border. “There was no danger to our PM’s aircraft,” Raju said. PM was returning after his trip to Brazil for the BRICS Summit.

Sources said aviation ministry is keeping the PM closely apprised about safety-related measures it has taken.

The downing of a Malaysian jet has thrown up serious security issues for airlines across the globe and, more specifically, for India.

“It raises a larger and critical question about flying over regions like Pakistan, Afghanistan or other troubled regions as a ground-to-air missile hit like what happened to Malaysian aircraft could have the potential to be repeated unless serious counter measures for avoiding such strikes

IT RAISES LARGER QUESTIONS ABOUT FLYING OVER REGIONS LIKE PAKISTAN, AFGHANISTAN AS A GROUND-TO-AIR MISSILE HIT LIKE WHAT HAPPENED COULD BE REPEATED

KAPIL KAUL, South Asia CEO, CAPA or similar risks are planned,” said Kapil Kaul, South Asia chief executive of Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, an aviation consultancy.

“Thursday’s accident opens a new strategic security challenge which may be rare but not impossible and India has to remain vigilant to such possibilities,” he added.

Security experts said it was unlikely militant groups like the Taliban would have access to such sophisticated weapons system that could bring down an aircraft, but did not rule out the risk either.

“This is a strategic challenge for India and should be looked at it from that perspective. Almost all west-bound flight fly over Afghanistan or Pakistan,” a senior aviation ministry official said.