Chaotic Scenes As Kin Of Air India Crash Victims Refuse Partial Remains: '2 Heads In One Bag'

News18

8 hours ago

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In a particularly tough situation, two heads were discovered in a body bag, resulting in the need to redo the entire DNA testing process.
Chaotic scenes were witnessed at Ahmedabad's Civil Hospital as family members of the Air India plane crash victims have been making rounds in hope of at least finding the mortal remains of their loved ones. The authorities are facing unforeseen challenges in the process of victim identification as the deadly crash spared only one passenger.
Relatives of passengers were seen gathering at an emergency centre on Friday to give DNA samples so their loved ones could be identified. In a particularly tough situation, two heads were discovered in a body bag, resulting in the need to redo the entire DNA testing process, which takes approximately 72 hours.
A report in Times of India quoted a senior official at the Civil Hospital as saying, 'This will require the DNA sampling process to be repeated as the parts belong to two victims and shouldn't be in the same bag."
A man on Saturday was seen urging officials to give him all the remains of his family members for the last rites. However, he was told that this request was not feasible. 'It was hard to convince him," the official was quoted.
Outside the postmortem room of the 1,200-bed Civil Hospital, where health department staff have stored body bags for DNA analysis, distressed relatives cling to hope that the officials will manage to recover all the remains of each victim.
'We have an established clinical protocol which includes placing the remains in body bags, transferring them to cold storage, conducting analysis and finally handing over the identified remains in coffins to the families. We cannot assure the families of retrieval of complete body parts of the victims as the remains are charred," TOI further quoted the official.
The authorities at Ahmedabad's Civil Hospital on Saturday issued a checklist of 'dos and don'ts" for the relatives of the deceased. It also mentioned 'quick procedure' of the handover of the mortal remains.
• The relative who provided the DNA sample is recommended to be present for the handover of the mortal remains.
• If that is not feasible, close family members of the individual should come.
• If unavoidable situations arise, they can authorize others to handle procedures on their behalf by issuing an authority letter.
• For the handover, you need to provide an Aadhaar card or any government-issued photo identification document.
• They should also bring the deceased's documents, such as an Aadhaar card, passport, or voter ID card (either original or duplicate).
• They should bring a document that verifies their relationship to the deceased. And mobile number given when the DNA sample was provided.
• The hospital will provide a file containing the postmortem report, death certificate, and other legal documents.
• If there is no document related to relationship, the relatives can approach mamlatdar, collector office.
• Air India will assist in transporting the bodies by flight. Coordination for this is necessary.
• Free transport will be provided for those who wish to take the mortal remains by road.