In Air India crash, canteen worker hopes for ‘second miracle'
DNA samples of only 32 deceased have been matched so far. (AFP pic)
AHMEDABAD : Around 30 minutes before an Air India jet crashed into a college hostel in India, Ravi Thakor, the cook in the hostel canteen, and his wife stepped out to deliver lunchboxes – leaving behind their two-year-old daughter and his mother.
The grandmother and child are missing. Thakor is hoping for what he calls a 'second miracle', one like the astonishing survival of the sole passenger among the 242 people on board the plane.
Thakor said he first thought the loud bang he heard when the plane crashed on Thursday in the western city of Ahmedabad was a gas cylinder blast, but soon noticed the building he had just left was engulfed in flames. For days, he's been searching for his mother and his daughter at hospitals and the morgue to no avail.
Police told Reuters they were treating it as a missing persons case.
'If one of the plane passengers could survive the crash, there could be a second miracle and my mother and daughter could also be safe,' a visibly distraught Thakor told Reuters outside one of the hospitals. His wife Lalita stood beside him, stone-faced.
'We realise that the chances of finding them alive are bleak but we have not given up hope,' Thakor said.
In all, at least 271 people died in the crash – the 241 passengers and crew in the plane, and the rest people on the ground, mostly in the hostel building.
Thakor and his wife have given samples of their DNA to hospital authorities but they are yet to hear if any matches have been found among the deceased.
Families of victims have been waiting to take possession of their loved ones' remains for days as DNA profiling and other identification checks are taking time. The hospital's additional superintendent, Rajnish Patel, said today DNA samples of only 32 deceased have been matched so far.
When the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner jet struck the hostel canteen on Thursday, many students were eating lunch. Steel tumblers and plates still containing food lay on the few tables that were left intact when Reuters visited the site later.
Thakor's mother was still cooking when he and his wife left the hostel that day to deliver lunchboxes and he had just rocked his daugher to sleep on a wooden swing, he said. 'It is possible someone took away my daughter in the chaos that followed,' he said.
Of the 242 on board the plane, the only passenger who managed to survive was Viswashkumar Ramesh, 40, who squeezed through the broken hatch after the plane crashed and emerged with only minor injuries.
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Free Malaysia Today
7 hours ago
- Free Malaysia Today
In Air India crash, canteen worker hopes for ‘second miracle'
DNA samples of only 32 deceased have been matched so far. (AFP pic) AHMEDABAD : Around 30 minutes before an Air India jet crashed into a college hostel in India, Ravi Thakor, the cook in the hostel canteen, and his wife stepped out to deliver lunchboxes – leaving behind their two-year-old daughter and his mother. The grandmother and child are missing. Thakor is hoping for what he calls a 'second miracle', one like the astonishing survival of the sole passenger among the 242 people on board the plane. Thakor said he first thought the loud bang he heard when the plane crashed on Thursday in the western city of Ahmedabad was a gas cylinder blast, but soon noticed the building he had just left was engulfed in flames. For days, he's been searching for his mother and his daughter at hospitals and the morgue to no avail. Police told Reuters they were treating it as a missing persons case. 'If one of the plane passengers could survive the crash, there could be a second miracle and my mother and daughter could also be safe,' a visibly distraught Thakor told Reuters outside one of the hospitals. His wife Lalita stood beside him, stone-faced. 'We realise that the chances of finding them alive are bleak but we have not given up hope,' Thakor said. In all, at least 271 people died in the crash – the 241 passengers and crew in the plane, and the rest people on the ground, mostly in the hostel building. Thakor and his wife have given samples of their DNA to hospital authorities but they are yet to hear if any matches have been found among the deceased. Families of victims have been waiting to take possession of their loved ones' remains for days as DNA profiling and other identification checks are taking time. The hospital's additional superintendent, Rajnish Patel, said today DNA samples of only 32 deceased have been matched so far. When the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner jet struck the hostel canteen on Thursday, many students were eating lunch. Steel tumblers and plates still containing food lay on the few tables that were left intact when Reuters visited the site later. Thakor's mother was still cooking when he and his wife left the hostel that day to deliver lunchboxes and he had just rocked his daugher to sleep on a wooden swing, he said. 'It is possible someone took away my daughter in the chaos that followed,' he said. Of the 242 on board the plane, the only passenger who managed to survive was Viswashkumar Ramesh, 40, who squeezed through the broken hatch after the plane crashed and emerged with only minor injuries.
Free Malaysia Today
7 hours ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Relatives wait for remains after Air India crash
Relatives grieve beside coffins holding Air India crash victims' remains outside their home in Ahmedabad. (AP pic) AHMEDABAD : Indian health officials have begun handing relatives the bodies of their loved ones after one of the world's worst plane crashes in decades, but most families were still waiting Monday for results of DNA testing. While mourners have held funerals for some of the 279 people killed when the Air India jet crashed in the western city of Ahmedabad, others are facing an anguished wait. 'They said it would take 48 hours. But it's been four days and we haven't received any response,' said Rinal Christian, 23, whose elder brother was a passenger on the jetliner. There was one survivor out of 242 passengers and crew on board the London-bound plane Thursday when it slammed into a residential area of Ahmedabad, killing at least 38 people on the ground as well. 'My brother was the sole breadwinner of the family,' Christian said Sunday. 'So what happens next?' At a crematorium in the city, around 20 to 30 mourners chanted prayers in a funeral ceremony for Megha Mehta, a passenger who had been working in London. As of late Sunday, 80 crash victims had been identified, according to Rajnish Patel, a doctor at Ahmedabad's civil hospital. 'This is a meticulous and slow process, so it has to be done meticulously only,' Patel said. 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. Workers went on clearing debris from the site on Sunday, while police inspected the area. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner erupted into a fireball when it went down moments after takeoff, smashing into buildings used by medical staff. 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. 'We need to know' Indian authorities have yet to identify the cause of the disaster and have ordered inspections of Air India's Dreamliners. Authorities announced Sunday that the second black box, the cockpit voice recorder, had been recovered. This may offer investigators more clues about what went wrong. Aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said Saturday he hoped decoding the first black box, the flight data recorder, would 'give an in-depth insight' into the circumstances of the crash. One person escaped alive from the wreckage, British citizen Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, whose brother was also on the flight. Imtiyaz Ali, who was still waiting for a DNA match to find his brother, said the airline should have supported families faster. 'I'm disappointed in them. It is their duty,' said Ali, who was contacted by the airline on Saturday. 'Next step is to find out the reason for this accident. We need to know,' he told AFP.
Malay Mail
11 hours ago
- Malay Mail
‘Hoping for a second miracle': Hostel cook searches for missing daughter, mother after Air India crash
AHMEDABAD, India, June 16 — Around 30 minutes before an Air India jet crashed into a college hostel in India, Ravi Thakor, the cook in the hostel canteen, and his wife stepped out to deliver lunchboxes – leaving behind their two-year-old daughter and his mother. The grandmother and child are missing. Thakor is hoping for what he calls a 'second miracle', one like the astonishing survival of the sole passenger among the 242 people on board the plane. Thakor said he first thought the loud bang he heard when the plane crashed on Thursday in the western city of Ahmedabad was a gas cylinder blast, but soon noticed the building he had just left was engulfed in flames. For days, he's been searching for his mother and his daughter at hospitals and the morgue to no avail. Police told Reuters they were treating it as a missing persons case. 'If one of the plane passengers could survive the crash, there could be a second miracle and my mother and daughter could also be safe,' a visibly distraught Thakor told Reuters outside one of the hospitals. His wife Lalita stood beside him, stone-faced. 'We realise that the chances of finding them alive are bleak but we have not given up hope,' Thakor said. In all, at least 271 people died in the crash – the 241 passengers and crew in the plane, and the rest people on the ground, mostly in the hostel building. Thakor and his wife have given samples of their DNA to hospital authorities but they are yet to hear if any matches have been found among the deceased. Families of victims have been waiting to take possession of their loved ones' remains for days as DNA profiling and other identification checks are taking time. The hospital's additional superintendent, Rajnish Patel, said on Sunday DNA samples of only 32 deceased have been matched so far. When the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner jet struck the hostel canteen on Thursday, many students were eating lunch. Steel tumblers and plates still containing food lay on the few tables that were left intact when Reuters visited the site later. Thakor's mother was still cooking when he and his wife left the hostel that day to deliver lunchboxes and he had just rocked his daughter to sleep on a wooden swing, he said. 'It is possible someone took away my daughter in the chaos that followed,' he said. Of the 242 on board the plane, the only passenger who managed to survive was Viswashkumar Ramesh, 40, who squeezed through the broken hatch after the plane crashed and emerged with only minor injuries. — Reuters
