ANKARA

A preliminary report into an Air India plane that crashed in western Gujarat state last month, killing 260 people, said Saturday that the aircraft’s engine fuel control switches transitioned to the “cut-off” position, moments before the disaster.

The UK-bound plane slammed into a hostel of a local medical college, with one passenger surviving the crash after he jumped out of the plane. Among the passengers were 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese, and a Canadian.

The report released by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said the aircraft achieved the maximum recorded airspeed of “180 knots … and immediately thereafter, the Engine 1 and Engine 2 fuel cutoff switches transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another with a time gap of 01 sec.”

It said the “engine N1 and N2” began to fall “from their take-off values as the fuel supply to the engines was cut off.”

“In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cut off. The other pilot responded that he did not do so,” said the report.

The report stated that after the switches were transitioned from cut-off to run, “Engine 1’s core deceleration stopped, reversed, and started to progress to recover,y and engine 2 was able to relight but could not arrest core speed deceleration and re-introduced fuel repeatedly to increase core speed acceleration and recovery. The EAFR (Enhanced Airborne Flight Recorder) then recording stopped.”

It also said an investigation is continuing and the team “will review and examine additional evidence, records and information that is being sought from the stakeholders.”

Air India said in a statement that it is working “closely with stakeholders, including regulators. We continue to fully cooperate with the AAIB and other authorities as their investigation progresses. “