Reuters
 — 

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has ordered the setting up of a new investigation team, involving police and prosecutors, to look into the deadly Halloween crowd crush that killed 159, mostly young people, in 2022, his spokesperson said on Thursday.

Lee’s move to launch a new probe came as he met the bereaved families of victims from recent major disasters, including the Halloween crush in Seoul’s Itaewon district, his spokesperson Kang Yu-jung told a briefing.

Lee, who took office in June, has promised to make the country safer and to prevent any repeat of the disasters in recent years that have often been blamed on the inadequate response by authorities.

The president said the new investigation team would work alongside a special commission that was launched in September last year to look into the case, according to the spokesperson.

At the meeting with Lee, Song Hae-jin, a representative for the families of the crush victims, said police records and information regarding the government’s response to the disaster had been withheld from the special commission.

During his meeting with the bereaved families, Lee bowed deeply as he apologized for any failures by authorities.

“As the head of the state, I would like to formally apologize on behalf of the government for failing to fulfill its responsibility to protect the lives and safety of the people, and for the many people who lost their lives as a result,” he said as some relatives wept.

Seattle
Reuters
 — 

The deadly Air India crash last month has renewed a decades-old debate in the aviation industry over installing video cameras monitoring airline pilot actions to complement the cockpit voice and flight data recorders already used by accident investigators.

One of the industry’s most influential voices, International Air Transport Association head Willie Walsh, a former airline pilot, said on Wednesday in Singapore there was a strong argument for video cameras to be installed in airliner cockpits to monitor pilot actions to complement voice and flight data recorders already used by accident investigators.

Aviation experts have said a preliminary report from India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) raised questions over whether one of the pilots of Air India flight 171 cut off fuel to the Boeing 787’s engines seconds after takeoff, leading to an irrecoverable situation.

The crash in Ahmedabad, India, killed 241 of the 242 people aboard, as well as 19 people on the ground.

As of now, “based on what little we know now, it’s quite possible that a video recording, in addition to the voice recording would significantly assist the investigators in conducting that investigation on the issue of mental health,” Walsh said.

Advocates for cockpit video cameras say the footage could fill in gaps left by the audio and data recorders, while opponents say concerns about privacy and misuse outweigh what they argue are marginal benefits for investigations.

Video footage was “invaluable” to Australian crash investigators determining what led to Robinson R66 helicopter breaking up in mid-air in 2023, killing the pilot, the only person aboard, according to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s final report, which was released 18 days after the Air India crash.

The video showed “the pilot was occupied with non-flying related tasks for much of this time, specifically, mobile phone use and the consumption of food and beverages,” the report said.

The ATSB commended Robinson Helicopters for providing factory-installed cameras and said it encouraged other manufacturers and owners to consider the ongoing safety benefits of similar devices.

In 2000, US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairman Jim Hall urged the Federal Aviation Administration to require commercial airliners be equipped with cockpit image recorders.

Hall’s recommendation came in the wake of 1999’s Egyptair Flight 990 crash, when the first officer intentionally crashed the Boeing 767, according to the NTSB, killing all 217 people on board.

“In the balance between privacy and safety, the scale tips toward safety, unequivocally,” air safety expert and former commercial airline pilot John Nance said. “Protecting the flying public is a sacred obligation.”

Another aviation safety expert, Anthony Brickhouse, said that as an accident investigator, he is in favor of cockpit video, but acknowledged that commercial pilots have real concerns.

Video on Air India flight 171 “would have answered lots of questions,” he said.

Air India declined to comment. India’s AAIB, which is expected to release a final report within a year of the crash under international rules, did not reply to request for comment.

US pilots’ unions such as the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and Allied Pilots Association (APA) say the voice and data recorders already provide enough information to determine the cause of a crash and that the cameras would be an invasion of privacy and could be misused.

Calls for cockpit cameras are an understandable reaction to “the stress of not knowing what happened immediately after an accident,” said APA spokesperson Dennis Tajer, an American Airlines pilot.

“I can understand the initial reaction of the more information, the better,” but investigators already have enough data to adequately determine an accident’s cause, leaving no need for cameras, he said.

To make flying safer, current safety systems should be enhanced to record higher-quality data, rather than adding video cameras, an ALPA spokeperson said.

There are also concerns the footage could be used by airlines for disciplinary actions or that video could be leaked to the public after a crash, said John Cox, an aviation safety expert, retired airline pilot and former ALPA executive air safety chairman.

A pilot’s death being broadcast on “the 6 o’clock news is not something that the pilot’s family should ever have to go through,” he said.

If confidentiality can be assured around the world, “I can see an argument” for installing cameras, Cox said.

Cockpit voice recordings are typically kept confidential by investigators in favor of partial or full transcripts being released in final reports.

Despite that, International Federation of Air Line Pilots Associations said it was skeptical that confidentiality could ever be assured for cockpit videos.

“Given the high demand for sensational pictures, IFALPA has absolutely no doubt that the protection of (airborne image recorder) data, which can include identifiable images of flight crewmembers, would not be ensured either,” the organization said in a statement.

Boeing declined to disclose whether customers are able to order cockpit video recorders, while Airbus did not reply to request for comment.

AP
 — 

Police in Thailand arrested a woman Tuesday who allegedly enticed a string of Buddhist monks into sexual relationships and then pressured them into making large payments to cover up their intimacy.

The possible violation of the celibacy rule for monks has rocked Buddhist institutions and gripped public attention in Thailand in recent weeks. At least nine abbots and senior monks involved in the scandal have been disrobed and cast out of the monkhood, the Royal Thai Police Central Investigation Bureau said.

Wilawan Emsawat, in her mid-30s, was arrested at her home in Nonthaburi province north of the capital Bangkok on charges including extortion, money laundering and receiving stolen goods. Police said they traced money transferred to her by a senior monk from a bank account belonging to his temple in northern Thailand.

Wilawan has not made a statement since her arrest and it was unclear if she has legal representation. Speaking to local media before her arrest, she acknowledged one relationship and said she had given money to that monk.

Scandals involving monks surface a few times a year in Thailand but usually don’t involve senior members of the clergy. The case also puts a spotlight on the large sums of money donated to temples controlled by abbots, which is in marked contrast to the abstemious lives they are supposed to lead under their religion’s precepts.

Wilawan deliberately targeted senior monks for financial gain, police said, noting they found several monks had transferred large amounts of money after Wilawan initiated romantic relationships with them.

Wilawan’s bank accounts received around 385 million baht ($11.9 million) in the past three years, but most of the funds were spent on online gambling websites, police said.

Jaroonkiat Pankaew, a Central Investigation Bureau deputy commissioner, said the investigation began last month after an abbot of a famous temple in Bangkok abruptly left the monkhood.

Investigators found the abbot had allegedly been blackmailed by Wilawan over their romantic relationship. She told the monk that she was pregnant and asked him to pay 7.2 million baht ($222,000) in financial assistance, Jaroonkiat said at a news conference in Bangkok Tuesday.

Police believed “this woman is dangerous and we needed to arrest her as soon as possible,” Jaroonkiat said.

Thai media reported a search of her mobile phones revealed tens of thousands of photos and videos, as well as numerous chat logs indicating intimacy with several monks, many of which could be used for blackmail.

Thai monks are largely members of the Theravada sect, which requires them to be celibate and refrain from even touching a woman.

Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai ordered authorities to review and consider tightening existing laws related to monks and temples, especially the transparency of temple finances, to restore faith in Buddhism, government spokesperson Jirayu Houngsub said Tuesday.

The Central Investigation Bureau has set up a Facebook page for people to report monks who misbehave, Jaroonkiat said.

“We will investigate monks across the country,” he said. “I believe that the ripple effects of this investigation will lead to a lot of changes.”