July 17 (Reuters) - A cockpit recording of dialogue

between the two pilots of the Air India flight that crashed last

month indicates the captain turned off the switches that

controlled fuel flowing to the plane's engines, the Wall Street

Journal reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper cited people familiar with U.S. officials'

early assessment of evidence uncovered in the investigation into

the crash, which killed 260 people.

The first officer, who was flying the Boeing 787

Dreamliner, asked the more experienced captain why he moved the

switches to the "cutoff" position after it climbed off the

runway, the report said.

The first officer expressed surprise and then panicked,

while the captain seemed to remain calm, the WSJ reported.

India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Boeing ( BA )

and Air India did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests

for comment on the report.

The two pilots involved were Captain Sumeet Sabharwal

and First Officer Clive Kunder, who had total flying experience

of 15,638 hours and 3,403 hours, respectively.

A preliminary report released last week by India's Aircraft

Accident Investigation Bureau depicted confusion in the cockpit

shortly before the June 12 crash, and raised fresh questions

over the position of the critical engine fuel cutoff switches.