Air India crash death toll climbs to 270 as victim identification continues
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed less than a minute after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Gujarat state on Thursday.
It was carrying 242 people — 230 passengers, two pilots and 10 crew members. Only one person, a British national sitting in an emergency exit seat, survived the crash.
It remains unclear how many people were killed on the ground as the aircraft fell on B.J. Medical College and a hostel for students and resident doctors of the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital.
Dr. Dhaval Gameti, president of the Junior Doctors' Association at the college, told The Associated Press on Saturday that the hospital had received the bodies of 270 victims.
The process of matching DNA samples to confirm their identities is underway.
Dr. Rajnish Patel, additional superintendent at the hospital, told the media on Sunday that only 14 bodies had been handed over to their next of kin.
'In the Ahmedabad plane tragedy, the DNA samples of 32 deceased individuals have been matched,' the hospital said in a statement.
'The mortal remains of the deceased whose DNA samples have been matched are being respectfully handed over to their families.'
Dr. Sarbari Dutta, secretary general of the Indian Medical Association, told Arab News that at least four medical students were confirmed to have been killed when the plane crashed into the college compound.
'More than 20 students are admitted in the hospital, some of them with very severe injuries,' she said, adding that the actual number of casualties would 'definitely' be higher.
India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is leading the inquiry into the cause of the crash.
Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said on Saturday, after the aircraft's digital flight data recorder, or black box, had been found at the site of the crash, that an investigation report would be issued within three months.
'The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has also given an order to do extended surveillance for the (Boeing) 787 planes,' he said.
'There are 34 in our Indian aircraft fleet today. I believe that eight have already been inspected and with immediate urgency. All of them are going to be done.'
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