Families hold funerals for Air India crash victims
AHMEDABAD, India: Grieving families were due to hold funerals in India on Sunday for their relatives who were among at least 279 killed in one of the world's worst plane crashes in decades.
Health officials have begun handing over the first passenger bodies identified through DNA testing, delivering them in white coffins in the western city of Ahmedabad.
"My heart is very heavy, how do we give the bodies to the families?" said Tushar Leuva, an NGO worker who has been helping with the recovery efforts.
There was just one survivor out of 242 passengers and crew on board the Air India jet when it crashed Thursday into a residential area of Ahmedabad, killing at least 38 people on the ground.
"How will they react when they open the gate? But we'll have to do it," Leuva told AFP at the mortuary on Saturday.
One victim's relative who did not want to be named told AFP they had been instructed not to open the coffin when they receive it.
Witnesses reported seeing badly burnt bodies and scattered remains.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner erupted into a fireball when it went down moments after takeoff, smashing into buildings used by medical staff.
Mourning relatives have been providing DNA samples to be matched with passengers, with 31 identified as of Sunday morning.
"This is a meticulous and slow process, so it has to be done meticulously only," Rajnish Patel, a doctor at Ahmedabad's civil hospital, said late Saturday.
The majority of those injured on the ground have been discharged, he added, with one or two remaining in critical care.
Indian authorities are yet to detail the cause of the disaster and have ordered inspections of Air India's Dreamliners.
Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said Saturday he hoped decoding the recovered black box, or flight data recorder, would "give an in-depth insight" into what went wrong.
Just one person miraculously escaped the wreckage, British citizen Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, whose brother was also on the flight.
Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian on board the flight, as well as 12 crew members.
Among the passengers was a father of two young girls, Arjun Patoliya, who had travelled to India to scatter his wife's ashes following her death weeks earlier.
"I really hope that those girls will be looked after by all of us," said Anjana Patel, the mayor of London's Harrow borough where some of the victims lived.
"We don't have any words to describe how the families and friends must be feeling," she added.
While communities were in mourning, one woman recounted how she survived only by arriving late at the airport.
"The airline staff had already closed the check-in," said 28-year-old Bhoomi Chauhan.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
4 hours ago
- The Star
Seven people, including toddler, die in second Uttarakhand helicopter crash in 40 days
This photo shared by Uttarakhand Police on the X platform shows rescuers working at the site of a helicopter crash near Kedarnath, in Uttarakhand, India, Sunday, June 15, 2025. - Photo: Uttarakhand Police on X via AP NEW DELHI: Uttarakhand on Sunday (June 15) morning witnessed yet another helicopter crash in Kedarnath Valley, which claimed seven lives, including a 23-month-old child and the pilot. Rescuers were able to recover only two bodies, while the remaining five bodies were charred beyond recognition. A helicopter belonging to Aryan Aviation Company, carrying six devotees and a pilot, from Kedarnath to Guptkashi, crashed at the Gaurikund area early Sunday morning, killing all seven people on board. Among the killed devotees was also a 23-month-old baby girl and her parents from Maharashtra. The deceased have been identified as captain Rajbir Singh Chauhan Pilot from Jaipur; Vikram Rawat a local member of Badr-Kedar Temple Committee and resident of Ukhimath; 66-year old Vinod Devi from Uttar Pradesh; Trishti Singh,19, from Uttar Pradesh; Rajkumar Jaiswal, 41; Shraddha Rajkumar Jaiswal and their 23-month-old daughter from Maharashtra. Smoke billows at the site of a chopper crash in the Gaurikund area of the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, India, June 15, 2025. - Photo: State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) Uttarakhand/Handout via Reuters Officials of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) informed that the bodies of the child and four other deceased were recovered, while parts of two other bodies were traced till the time of reporting of this news. Rescue teams, including those of SDRF, NDRF, and local police, were still searching for remaining body parts under inclement weather conditions on the hilltop. According to the officials, the crash occurred as heli was caught in bad weather, due to low visibility on the hills. The pilot tried his best to land at a safe location, but the heli caught fire and was gutted, turning into ashes. Questions are also being raised as to the timing of helicopter flights being allowed by the administration, as early as around 5.30 am. The crashed helicopter took off at around 5.21 am and crashed at around 5.30 am. The flying machine was last seen at around 5.24 am in the valley. Members of rescue teams work at the site of a chopper crash in the Gaurikund area of the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, India, June 15, 2025. - Photo: State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) Uttarakhand/Handout via Reuters The fall of the heli remained unnoticed till a group of local village women, who went there to collect grass, spotted the burning flying machine and alerted other villagers. This is the second Heli crash within 40 days. A Crystal Aviation helicopter crashed on May 5, killing six devotees who were going to visit the Gangotri Shrine. Besides these crashes, around three helicopters, including an ambulance of AIIMS, had to undertake an emergency landing due to technical snags. - The Statesman/ANN
Sinar Daily
6 hours ago
- Sinar Daily
Germans leave parental home early, but men take longer to move out
People tend to live at home the longest in Croatia, where they were 31.3 years old when leaving, according to the figures. This was followed by Slovakia and Greece. 15 Jun 2025 06:00pm A man rests near a fountain on the central Roemer Square in the city of Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on June 10, 2025. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP) BERLIN - Young people in Germany tend to move out of their parents' home early compared to other European Union (EU) countries, although men take longer to leave the nest, German Press Agency (dpa) reported. New figures released by the federal statistical agency showed that the average age for Germans to leave their parents' home in 2024 was 23.9 - significantly below the EU-wide average age of 26.2 years of age. On average, they were 24.6 years old when moving out, while women were 23.1 years old. - AFP file photo Citing calculations made by the EU's statistical office Eurostat, the agency said young people move out the earliest in Finland, where they are 21.4 years old on average, followed by Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, and France. People tend to live at home the longest in Croatia, where they were 31.3 years old when leaving, according to the figures. This was followed by Slovakia and Greece. German men take longer to leave their parents' home than women do. On average, they were 24.6 years old when moving out, while women were 23.1 years old. Among male 25-year-olds, 33.8 per cent still lived with their parents in 2025, compared to just 22.4 per cent among 25-year-old women. - BERNAMA-dpa More Like This
The Star
7 hours ago
- The Star
Air India crash: Grief turns into anger as families continue agonising wait for bodies
AHMEDABAD, India (The Straits Times/ANN): Anger has been mounting among family members of passengers on board the ill-fated Air India plane that crashed in Ahmedabad, as they face an agonising wait for the bodies of their loved ones. All but one of the 242 passengers and crew on board were killed in the June 12 crash, with an additional unconfirmed number of fatalities on the ground. Flight AI171, operated with a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, had rammed into a hostel mess in the western Indian city's Byramjee Jeejeebhoy (BJ) Medical College and Civil Hospital before erupting into a large ball of fire. Dr Dhaval Gameti, president of the Junior Doctors' Association at the BJ Medical College, told reporters on June 14 that 270 bodies had been recovered from the crash site, with more bodies potentially still stuck under rubble. One body, believed to be that of an air hostess, was retrieved from the site on June 14. Thirty-two injured people from the site were also admitted to the Civil Hospital, with some still in critical condition. Only eight bodies – those that were identified visually – have been handed over to family members, with the rest to be released after DNA matches, which doctors said could take up to 72 hours. But the patience of family members is wearing thin, with grief beginning to give way to rage as some question the agonising wait marked by a lack of official and regular communication from the authorities to the victims' families and media. Mumbai resident Rafiq Abdul Aziz Memon, whose nephew was on the flight with his wife and two children, said his relatives had already turned in their DNA samples but he had yet to receive any clear information on the state of the bodies of his loved ones. Mumbai-resident Rafiq Abdul Aziz Memon, whose nephew was on board the flight with his wife and two children, said he is worried about the condition of their bodies currently in storage at the mortuary in Civil Hospital. Mumbai resident Rafiq Abdul Aziz Memon, whose nephew was on board the flight with his wife and two children, said he is worried about the condition of their bodies currently in storage at the mortuary in Civil Hospital. -- ST PHOTO: DEBARSHI DASGUPTA 'In two days, all I have been hearing is 72 hours, 72 hours. When will these 72 hours end, nobody knows. They will then bring up some other excuse after 72 hours,' an angry and distressed Mr Memon told reporters outside BJ Medical College. 'Stop this DNA game… We want to see them (the bodies) in whatever condition they are in, we can stomach it. They were our children.' Fearing that the bodies may have already started decomposing, he demanded that the local authorities release a video to prove that the bodies are safe. 'Four days later, if you give us something that stinks, will our heart be able to bear it?... Tell us that the bodies of our loved ones are safe, that they are not decomposing.' Dr Rakesh S. Joshi, medical superintendent of the Civil Hospital, where the bodies have been stored in a mortuary, told The Straits Times that matching the DNA samples from victims' bodies with those from their family members is taking longer than usual because many of the bodies were badly burned and mutilated. In such cases, intact DNA has to be extracted from hard remains such as bones or teeth. 'It (also) takes time for all relatives to come from a different place other than the local city,' he said, noting that his team had the DNA collection process set up in three to four hours after the crash and are working '24/7' to conclude it. Dr Joshi added that positive matches have already begun coming in. The first reportedly DNA-matched body was later released by the hospital late on the afternoon of June 14, with media access to the mortuary cut off. ddanger - A sitting area for relatives of passengers killed in the Air India AI171 crash at Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad. Family members of victims have complained about the lack of support and information for them. Also present at the Civil Hospital on June 14 was Anil Kumar Patel, 58, who works as a security supervisor in Ahmedabad. His 30-year-old son, who worked for Amazon in London, was here with his wife for her medical treatment and both were killed in the crash. Patel said he had so far not received any help from Air India or the Ahmedabad district administration following the tragedy. 'No one has called, nothing,' he said. Family members of victims have criticised the way they have been dealt with by the authorities since the tragedy, as they were often left to fend for themselves, with little or no information going their way. Patel was seated next to the post-mortem room, where a small open area with a makeshift marquee and a broken bench had been designated for relatives of victims of the crash. He has spent most of the past two days waiting at the Civil Hospital for some news, despite the humid, oppressive heat in Ahmedabad. Asked why he continues to be here, he said, breaking down: 'Just so that I can get both their dead bodies. What else can I expect?' Some help may be finally on its way. The Ahmedabad district administration released a list of 39 victims who were residents of areas under its jurisdiction on the night of June 13. Each family has been assigned an official who has been asked to help family members, from the process of DNA collection to funeral rites. On that list, the fourth and 38th names were that of Mr Patel's daughter-in-law Pooja Harshit Patel and his son Harshit Patel. 'I just hope we get their bodies soon,' he said. - The Straits Times/ANN
