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Airliner identical to plane that crashed last week was forced to turn back an hour into flight from Mumbai to London
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An Air India Boeing 787 identical to the plane that crashed last week made an emergency landing in 2023 after engine failure caused by poor maintenance.
The airliner was forced to turn back an hour into its 14-hour flight between Mumbai and London, India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said.
The 2023 engine failure, together with news that India’s aviation regulator has only half the number of staff it should be employing, will raise fresh questions about flight safety standards across the subcontinent.
Pilots flying the Dreamliner during the August 2023 incident said they heard a “loud thud” immediately before the left engine lost power, the DGCA’s investigation report said.
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the sole survivor of last Thursday’s disaster, said he heard a “loud noise” immediately before Air India flight AI171 crashed. His seat, 11A, was near the Boeing’s left engine.
Investigators looking into the 2023 engine failure discovered that the Boeing’s left-hand engine, made by the US company General Electric, failed after a turbine blade was incorrectly bolted in during routine maintenance and then broke loose.
General Electric, which inspected the failed engine on the DGCA’s behalf, concluded that the “release” of a high-pressure compressor blade “had occurred due to improper installation of locking lugs of HPC Stage 10”.
News of an engine failure with potential similarities to the events leading up to the deadly Ahmedabad crash came amid claims that the Indian air safety watchdog was suffering a manpower crisis.
The DGCA had less than half the staff in place needed to ensure safety, and Indian parliamentarians said three months ago that they had “fundamental concerns” about the shortages.
The watchdog is responsible for aviation safety and regulatory oversight, and the enforcement of civil air regulations, air safety and airworthiness standards, including inspections.
A report by the Indian parliament’s transport committee found that of the 1,633 posts comprising the “sanctioned strength” of the watchdog, only 754 were filled, leaving 879 vacancies.
“The committee notes with serious concern the high number of vacancies across key aviation regulatory and operational bodies, particularly in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, and the Airports Authority of India,” the report said.
“The DGCA, responsible for aviation safety and regulatory oversight, has a vacancy rate exceeding 53 per cent, raising fundamental concerns about its capacity to enforce aviation safety standards effectively.”
It said that at the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, tasked with maintaining aviation security, nearly 35 per cent of jobs were unfilled, “posing risks to the robustness of security oversight at airports”.
Similarly, at the Airports Authority of India, which manages critical airport infrastructure and air traffic services, unfilled job vacancies impacted operational efficiency and airport expansion.
“The committee is deeply concerned that chronic understaffing in these institutions could undermine safety, security, and service delivery standards, particularly as air traffic volumes continue to rise.
“The committee urges the Ministry of Civil Aviation to expedite the recruitment process to fill vacancies across DGCA, BCAS, and AAI, ensuring that regulatory oversight, security enforcement, and airport operations are not compromised.”
Last Friday, the DGCA issued a notice to Air India to conduct more inspections of all of its 787-8 and 787-9 fleet with GE engines.
This includes an inspection of the fuel monitoring systems, a test of the electronic engine control, a check of the hydraulics and a review of take-off parameters. “Power assurance checks” are also to be done on each airliner within two weeks.
The DCGA and General Electric were contacted for comment.
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This page reflects the news from Sean “Diddy” Combs’ trial on Friday, June 13. For the latest updates from Diddy’s trial, read USA TODAY’s live coverage for Monday, June 16. 
This story contains graphic descriptions that some readers may find disturbing.
A surprise guest showed up as Sean “Diddy” Combs‘ criminal trial was underway for the day on Friday, June 13.
Kanye “Ye” West, who has vocally supported Combs amid his legal troubles, briefly watched the court proceedings on a screen in an overflow room before leaving the courthouse shortly afterward.
His arrival came a day after the Combs’ ex-girlfriend, testifying under the pseudonym “Jane,” described being flown to a birthday party on another rapper’s private jet. However, it was unclear why Ye made an appearance, if he will testify or if he has any involvement in the case.
And another courtroom shocker: Judge Arun Subramanian made a move toward dismissing controversial Juror No. 6 in the trial late Friday afternoon. He’s slated to make a final determination by June 16.
As the prosecution continues to build its case against Combs, jurors heard from one of Combs’ assistants, Jonathan Perez – who described cleaning up after “king nights” – aka “freak offs” – his as well as a federal agent, who testified about the 900 Astroglide bottles he witnessed while raiding Combs’ Los Angeles home.
Combs, 55, was arrested in September and charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty.
Subramanian said that there are “several inconsistencies” surrounding details about where Juror No. 6 lives and with whom he lives.
“The juror is unable to answer simple questions,” Subramanian said, adding that “there are serious questions about the juror’s candor and ability to follow instructions.”
Subramanian added that it “seems like a trivial matter,” but it “goes to a juror’s basic criteria to serve.” Due to the juror’s “changing answers and inconsistency,” Subramanian said it raises questions about whether the juror was truthful in other questions more directly related to the case.
After Combs’ lawyer Xavier Donaldson raised an objection, Subramanian said he’ll think about it and let the parties know if he changes his mind.
The judge has move a move toward dismissing Juror No. 6 after federal prosecutors on June 11 raised the alarm over statements he’d made. Subramanian said the “removal of the juror is required,” noting that “the juror will be dismissed.” In court, Subramanian continued to explain his reasoning for the removal, which stemmed from three separate interviews: one from voir dire, one from the robing room and one from colloquy.
Subramanian told the court that the juror had an offhand conversation with a member of the jury department, in which the juror indicated he recently moved in with his girlfriend in New Jersey, which is where he had been staying most of the time. In voir dire, when asked where he lived, the juror said he lived in the Bronx with his fiancée and baby daughter. But in a different interview when asked where he lived, the juror said he had an apartment in New York where he stayed four to five nights a week when he was working and doing jury duty.
Juror No. 6’s baby was born in New Jersey, and he noted that his girlfriend recently got an apartment in his home state “so she’s been living there” and that’s where his daughter lives. But in a separate interview, “he indicated he lived in New York with his aunt.”
A woman who first accused Combs of impregnating and drugging her in a September lawsuit has revealed her name.
Chelsea Lovelace amended her New York State Supreme Court complaint on June 13, revealing herself as the woman who accused Combs of a “years long pattern of abuse, manipulation and control” that allegedly took place from 2020 until his arrest in September 2024.
In the filing reviewed by USA TODAY, Lovelace also said Combs allegedly forced her to “have vaginal intercourse without her consent,” drugging her and impregnating her, and that Combs and his staff recorded their sexual encounters without consent. The woman said she later had a miscarriage around 2022.
On the stand, Perez recalled an incident in Combs’ Los Angeles home in which he allegedly heard Combs’ videographer yelling from another room. When Perez went into the room, he found a video on a staff iPad of Jane having sex with another man as Combs was in the background.
About an hour or two later, Perez said, he told Combs about the video, asking whether he should delete it, lock it in a safe or something else. Later that day, when Kristina “KK” Khorram arrived, Perez also told her about the video, he said. Khorram told him that in the future, things like the video should be brought right to her, and she would communicate them to Combs, Perez testified.
About six months after he saw the video, Khorram pulled Perez aside to ask once again about the video. She said she got a call from someone outside the company about the video, and she wanted Perez to tell her again “exactly what happened, beat by beat.” Khorram recorded their conversation, and the court heard audio of their interaction.
In the audio, Perez explained that a videographer said, “There’s something on the iPad that I shouldn’t be seeing,” and he saw it while scrolling through the iPad’s camera roll.
Khorram said, “We have camera footage at the house, so we’ll be able to know exactly who was there.” Perez said on the stand that he “didn’t want to delete and then have it come up later.” In the audio, Perez said, “I think Mr. Combs might have thought he’d been compromised in some way.”
In a text exchange with Perez, Khorram and Joey Chavez – another assistant – Khorram continually checked in on the progress of the “freak off” room set up. During the exchange, Perez and Chavez let her know that there were fruits, shakes, juices and a pair of large shorts for Combs.
Perez was on his way to an adult store to send pictures of lingerie outfits, texting the pictures to Khorram, who would then send them to Jane for her approval. In one text, Khorram asked them how the cleanup was going. “Slipped and fell twice,” Chavez replied, seemingly in reference to the copious amount of Astroglide lubricant and baby oil used during “king nights.”
On Friday, Combs’ former personal assistant Jonathan Perez took the stand. He worked as a personal assistant for Combs from the end of 2021 to September 2024, the month he was arrested in Manhattan.
A part of Perez’s job duties was setting up what they called “king nights” – aka “freak offs” – and the court saw text messages where Perez told “Jane” and Combs that he had left two candles and a room phone in front of the room door and that he was only nine minutes away if they need anything.
Ye, whose unexpected arrival adds another layer of intrigue to an already closely watched trial, went to a second overflow room that the court opened up. He sat in the room for 10 minutes or less and was watching a bit of testimony before leaving.
The rapper was then seated in the front row of overflow room 23B, watching the monitor with his bodyguards. He wasn’t seen saying anything, but one of his bodyguards turned to him and appeared to explain something. After about seven to 10 minutes, he got up and they all left the courthouse. An unnamed security guard alleged Ye was at the courthouse the day prior for an hour, though reports or sightings did not surface.
Jonathan Perez, one of Combs’ former assistants, was testifying at the time.
After a week on the stand, Combs’ former lover from 2021 to 2024, Jane, wrapped her testimony on June 12.
One of the biggest moments in her testimony was her recollection of June 18-19, 2024, when Combs allegedly first physically abused her. The confrontation, she said June 12, took place after she’d attended a Las Vegas birthday party with another rapper months earlier.
The morning after the alleged attacks and sex acts, which purportedly included “forced oral sex” with an escort, Jane recalled Combs angrily asking her, “How could you go to another man’s freak off?” in reference to the birthday party.
In response, Jane said she told Combs nothing happened and that she was merely there with a friend.
During court proceedings June 12, Combs’ lawyers sought to name people who were at the birthday party Jane attended in Las Vegas, including the rapper, but the judge blocked the request.
When cross-examination later resumed, defense attorney Geragos described this person as a very successful rapper at the top of the music industry, and an icon who was close with Combs and previously recorded with him.
Combs has a major influence and reach in the music industry. He has rubbed shoulders with many of the biggest names in music over his three-decade-long career, and has worked with countless iconic rappers over the years.
After a to-do over his testimony, Andre Lamon, a Homeland Security Investigations agent, took the stand. Lamon is part of a human trafficking and smuggling group at the agency and led the search warrant for Combs’ Los Angeles home.
Lamon said he found 900 bottles of Astroglide, a personal lubricant, and 200 bottles of baby oil. The court then saw pictures with stacks and stacks of boxes of Astroglide as well as dozens of bottles of baby oil stashed in drawers. Authorities also found multiple bags containing ketamine, as well as a sealed packet that had lingerie, Lamon said.
Agnifilo also said he wanted to be allowed to cross-examine the agent about the way the music mogul’s Miami estate was secured. The raids, at the time, made headlines and began generating larger interest in the case.
Combs was not there at the time, he said, but his two sons were. The agents came in with long guns pointed at them, took the men at gunpoint to a different area and handcuffed them. If the government opened the door, Agnifilo could cross-examine on that, the judge said; otherwise, it was relevant.
Before Lamon took the stand, lawyers for both sides discussed the federal agent’s upcoming testimony. Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo objected to the agent testifying because he was not the person who first found the guns in Combs’ residence.
“They don’t know where they got the baby oil, fine. They don’t know where they got the Astroglide, great. These are firearms. … I don’t want to start playing Russian roulette with guns,” Agnifilo said.
The government countered that they planned to elicit testimony from the witness that the guns were found in Combs’ security office, which has a lock on the door and a gun safe, but by the time this agent got there, the guns had already been secured by a previous team. The judge approved the testimony.
Before the jury was called in for the day, the parties discussed one of the jurors, anonymously identified as Juror No. 6, with Judge Subramanian.
The problem arose when the juror made an offhand comment to one of the jury staff members, which appeared to be inconsistent with what he said during prospective juror questioning.
The juror initially said he lived in the Bronx, but the court later learned he had moved two weeks earlier. The judge suggested that the juror be brought in for more questioning to determine whether he had been untruthful or was simply mistaken.
In documents filed about the issue, Combs’ lawyers accused the prosecution of bias because Juror No. 6 is Black, mirroring a similar claim raised by the defense during jury selection. In court this morning, Subramanian said, “There is absolutely no basis for that suggestion. There is no evidence … of any biased conduct from the government.”
Subramanian planned to decide by the end of the day if the juror should be questioned again.
As her cross-examination continued on June 12, Jane was asked by Combs’ attorney Teny Geragos about the alleged physical fight she and Combs had at her Los Angeles home in June 2024.
Jane testified that she had a “weird feeling” about him allegedly bringing a younger woman on a family trip at the time. Jane previously said on the stand that she now knows the woman in question was younger than her, but not a minor. (Combs has not been formally accused by the government of assaulting a child.)
At one point during the argument, when Combs bent down, Jane admitted that she pushed his head into the counter and threw a glass and two candles at him.
After pushing Combs, Jane said she tried to lock herself in different rooms, but he kicked in the door each time. She was telling him to leave and that she hated him, and he allegedly kicked her in the leg. She fell, but Combs allegedly lifted her into a chokehold until she couldn’t breathe.
As more of Jane’s and Combs’ communications were read to the court during the June 12 hearing, one message from the rapper, sent to a sex worker, indicated he was looking for someone to convince Jane to do a “hotel night.”
After Jane had texted Combs to turn down a night of sex — “I know what you want, baby, but I’m not really in the mood for that part. I don’t want to make you mad,” she wrote — Combs seemingly texted the male escort, “Imma need you to persuade her. If she heard from you we’re in.”
When Geragos asked Jane if seeing that message had made her upset, Jane replied, “Wouldn’t that make you upset?”
After CNN published surveillance footage in May 2024 of Combs beating his then-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura Fine at a Los Angeles hotel, Jane shared shared in her testimony that her friends encouraged her to break up with him amid the public outcry over the video, but the woman maintained she wanted to support Combs at the time.
She said Combs had never laid a hand on her at that point in their relationship. “You felt this was another example of how complicated he was?” Geragos said.
“Like in his past?” Jane answered. “Yes.”
Combs is facing federal sex-crimes and trafficking charges in a sprawling case that has eroded his status as a power player and kingmaker in the entertainment industry.
He was arrested in September 2024 and later charged with racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. The rapper has pleaded not guilty to the five counts against him.
Combs’ trial is expected to last for approximately eight weeks in total. Judge Subramanian has said he’s hopeful proceedings will wrap up by the July 4 holiday.
Racketeering is the participation in an illegal scheme under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Statute, or RICO, as a way for the U.S. government to prosecute organizations that contribute to criminal activity.
Using RICO law, which is typically aimed at targeting multi-person criminal organizations, prosecutors allege that Combs coerced victims, some of whom they say were sex workers, through intimidation and narcotics to participate in “freak offs” — sometimes dayslong sex performances that federal prosecutors allege they have video of.
The trial will not be televised, as cameras are typically not allowed in federal criminal trial proceedings.
USA TODAY will be reporting live from the courtroom. Sign up for our newsletter for more updates.
Contributing: USA TODAY staff
If you are a survivor of sexual assault, RAINN offers support through the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673) and Hotline.RAINN.org and en Español RAINN.org/es.
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 or text “START” to 88788.

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