Air India plane crash: Anxious wait for relatives of people deemed 'missing'
Relatives of a victim mourn outside a hospital in Ahmedabad
AHMEDABAD: Even as the on-ground toll in the Air India Dreamliner crash rose to 33, with 29 more bodies being found or identified on Friday, the families of several people still deemed 'missing' continued to wait anxiously for news of their kin.
Ashok Patni, who lives nearby, said his 55-year-old uncle had been missing since the crash. "He was at the crash site around that time. We have been searching for him since. My cousin gave a blood sample to help determine whether one of the bodies is that of my uncle."
Another person reported missing is Arshdeep Banga, a 20-year-old IT professional. "We pray he is safe," said his mother, Ranjit Kaur, a resident of Meghaninagar.
Nilam Patni, a resident of Meghaninagar, lost her 14-year-old brother in the tragedy, while her mother, Sita Patni, is in intensive care. "My mother is a street vendor who sits near the New Mental Hospital compound. My brother had gone to deliver her lunch and dozed off beside her," she said.
DNA collection started at BJ Medical College early on Friday. By afternoon, 219 samples had been collected from relatives of the victims. Bodies of eight identified victims were immediately handed over to their families, officials said.
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