News
Jet crash: Deputy Defence Minister, too, contradicts Minister Ratnayake
Deputy Defence Minister Maj. Gen. (Retd) Aruna Jayasekera, on Tuesday (25), said that Air Force investigation into the 21 March K-8 advanced jet crash had not been concluded.
Jayasekera was responding to a media query. The media sought the Maj. Gen’s comments in the wake of Transport Minister and Leader of the House Bimal Ratnayake’s declaration that the crash had been caused by pilot error.
The Air Force Headquarters has already contradicted Minister Ratnayake’s unsubstantiated claim. The qualified instructor and the trainee ejected before the ill-fated aircraft, attached to the Katunayake-based No 05 squadron, crashed at Wariyapola.