Tears, Photos, DNA Samples: Grieving Families Wait In Despair At BJ Medical College

NDTV

17 hours ago

The BJ Medical College, Ahmedabad, usually open for all throughout the year, has been a site of grief chaos since yesterday, when London-bound Air India plane AI-171 crashed over its hostel premises at around 1.30 pm, minutes after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport. The crash killed all but one of the 242 passengers on board, as well as 10 students of the BJ Medical College.
Since the incident, the insitute has been swarmed by relatives and friends of the victims, waiting to identify or collect their bodies. In the adjacent building, Kasturi Bhavan, DNA samples are being collected from the distraught relatives of unidentified victims. Unable to hold back their tears, they've been waiting in corridors for news on their loved ones. It takes 72 hours for a sample to be identified.
Sonal Joshi, a local from Ahmedabad, is here with her brother, whose wife Kamini was killed in the crash. In the DNA collection room, as her brother broke down, Sonal was trying desperately to provide some identification details to the medical staff. Holding up a photograph of a radiant Kamini in a green silk sari, she points to her sister-in-law's rudraksh locket, hoping it could help the medical staff identify her body.
Sonal Joshi
The family of sisters Heer and Dheer Bakshi, both in their twenties, is equally inconsolable. Their maternal uncle, Kartik Oza, speaking fondly of his nieces, tells this journalist that one was a fashion designer and the other a techie. Their mother, who is also a British citizen, now regrets postponing her travel. The family had come to Ahmedabad to celebrate the birthday of the victims' maternal grandmother.
The family of Heer And Dheer Bakshi
While Pawan Kumar has come from Delhi to support his friend Yogesh, who lost a relative in the crash, Rizwan has lost three family members: his brother Pervez, sister-in-law Zubeira, and niece Yasmin Vohra. Rizwan is still waiting for DNA identification.
There were also 53 British citizens on the ill-fated flight; relatives of many of them are yet to reach the place.
Several housekeeping and cleaning staff of the medical college, who had been serving food to the students at the time of the crash, are also reported to have died, though official confirmation is awaited. One such staffer, who had stepped out to buy beedi, was killed, while his wife sustained 50% burns.
Jyotsnaben from Meghani Nagar also waited outside the postmortem building to collect the body of her nephew, who used to sell tea with his mother near the college hostel building. The mother has sustained serious burns.
Doctors told this journalist that some of the bodies have been charred so badly that it is difficult to identify anything.
The ill-fated plane crashed over the Atulyam hostel block, where 80 medical undergraduate as well as superspecialty students were staying. The fatalities are expected to go up as there are many yet to be located.
Volunteers at the BJ Medical College
The local administration has made arrangements for food and accommodation for the grieving relatives. Volunteers at the site have also been handing out food and water bottles.