Ahmedabad: At least 270 bodies from the London-bound Air India plane crash have been brought to Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, authorities said on Saturday, June 14. So far, 11 victims have been identified through DNA matching, and the process of handing over the bodies to their families has begun.
As many of the bodies are burnt beyond recognition or damaged otherwise, authorities are carrying out DNA tests to establish the identity of the victims of Thursday’s horrific tragedy.
Dr Rajnish Patel, professor of surgery at the B J Medical College, told media persons that the process of matching DNA has to be done meticulously.
It has legal and medical implications, so one can not rush through it, he said.
The bodies of eight victims, who were identified by their relatives and did not need DNA profiling, have already been handed over to their families by the hospital, officials said earlier.
All but one of the 242 passengers and crew on board AI171 and another 29 persons including five MBBS students on the ground were killed when the aircraft came down moments after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport before falling inside the nearby campus of the state-run BJ Medical College in Meghaninagar area and going up in flames.
DNA profiling begins
To expedite the DNA matching exercise, Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi held a meeting with the officials of the state Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) on Saturday.
Talking to reporters, Additional Civil Superintendent of the civil hospital, Dr Rajnish Patel, said the results of nine DNA samples have arrived, and relatives of those nine victims have been informed over the phone to collect the mortal remains.
“DNA profiling is underway to ascertain the identity of other victims, as their bodies were charred beyond recognition. Till now,the results of nine DNA samples have arrived after the matching process. We have informed the family members of these nine persons to collect the bodies from the civil hospital,” Patel said.
“It will take nearly 72 hours to complete the exercise of matching the DNA samples. Once they match, bodies will be handed over to the relatives from the post-mortem room,” said police inspector Chirag Gosai, who is handling the affairs at the post-mortem room.
Details are collected from relatives arriving at the post-mortem room, and these people are then sent to BJ Medical College to provide their DNA samples, he said.
Victim from Kheda district cremated
Poornima Patel from Dakor in Kheda district, one of the Air India crash victims and among the first nine passengers identified through DNA matching, was cremated in her hometown on Saturday, according to sources cited by TNIE.
DGCA orders extended surveillance of Boeing 787 series
Earlier, Union Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered “extended surveillance” for the Tata-owned airline’s Boeing 787 series planes.
As investigators looked into all possible causes for the crash, including loss of thrust in both engines of the 11-year-old aircraft, multiple bird strikes, or a potential flap issue, Naidu told reporters in Delhi that decoding of the Black box is going to give “in-depth insight” into what happened moments before the tragedy.
The Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR), commonly known as the Black Box, was recovered from the “rooftop” of the hostel building at the crash site on Friday, June 13.
There was no word yet on recovery of another Black box– the Cockpit Voice Recorder(CVR). This instrument records radio transmissions and other sounds in the cockpit, such as conversations between the pilots and engine noises.
Air India conducts safety checks on 9 Boeing 787 Dreamliners
In a post on X, Air India said it has done one-time safety checks on nine of its Boeing 787 Dreamliners and is on track to complete the checks on the remaining 24 such planes as directed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation(DGCA). The carrier now has 26 legacy Boeing 787-8s and seven Boeing 787-9s in its fleet.
Air India has 33 Boeing 787-8/9 planes. The airline said it is in the process of completing the one-time safety checks directed by DGCA. The carrier had 26 legacy Boeing 787-8s and seven Boeing 787-9s in its fleet.
NSG deployed at crash site
Apart from central and state government agencies, a team of the National Security Guard (NSG) has also been deployed at the crash site.
NSG commandos were seen at the crash site on the hostel building where the tail of the plane got stuck after the crash. Sources said the National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials visited the site on Friday.
Fire brigade officials said since the tail fin of the aircraft was stuck on top of the canteen’s damaged building, cranes have been roped in to remove it and bring it down. “We will start the work of removing the tail fin from the building and bring it on the ground once Air India officials arrive at the site,” Khadia said.
Meanwhile, student hostels that suffered damage in the crash are being vacated for a probe by the AAIB and accommodated elsewhere, Minakshi Parikh, the Dean of the B J Medical College said.
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