AI 171 crash: 217 DNA matches completed, 199 bodies handed over on Thursday

Time of India

6 hours ago

Ahmedabad: Until 8.30pm on Thursday, which marked a week since the AI 171 airplane crash, the state administration completed the identification of 217 victims after completing the DNA cross-verification process.
According to a social media post by state health minister Rushikesh Patel, the Civil Hospital authorities handed over the mortal remains of 199 victims to their families.
Dr Rakesh Joshi, medical superintendent of Civil Hospital, said that two more families were to receive the bodies by late Thursday evening.
"Five other families will be handed over the mortal remains by Friday morning. Nine families are awaiting DNA matches for all the members they have lost as the verification process is yet to identify some of them," he said.
"Out of the total, 183 bodies have been sent to their residences or crematoriums by ambulance, whereas the remaining 15 are sent by air."
Out of the total bodies handed over so far, 40 belong to foreign nationals, the authorities said. They include 32 from the UK, seven from Portugal and one from Canada. The rest include 149 Indian passengers and nine non-passengers, as reported by the Civil Hospital authorities.
A few more families performed the last rites of their loved ones on Thursday while others are still awaiting the bodies.
"Against the 15-parameter match in DNA analysis, referring to the number of autosomal short tandem repeat (STR) loci, which is followed internationally, the method employed here has a 23-parameter match. The purpose of the process is to ensure that the match stands in any lab or court in India or abroad.
The NABL-accredited lab and internationally certified experts add value to the process," said a senior state home department official.
"It will help the victims avail of insurance and other claims."
Sources said, the next couple of days are crucial as the relatively difficult samples collected from the site and sent by the Civil Hospital authorities are being processed by the experts. "Some of the remains are badly charred, and thus it may need more than one attempt to extract DNA for matching. But we are hopeful of getting maximum matches," said the official.