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Hindustan Times
2 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
DNA of 19 victims matched, more remains discovered
Doctors in Ahmedabad worked round the clock to match blood and DNA samples to slivers of charred remains, forensic investigators combed through mangled pieces of metal for human parts, and rescuers cut through the wreckage to pull out bodies on Saturday as authorities struggled to arrive at the final toll of India's worst single-aircraft tragedy. Officials said they pulled out three bodies from the debris on Saturday, adding to the already staggering toll from the Thursday afternoon crash of the London-bound Air India 171 flight just outside Ahmedabad airport, even as it became clear that people had died not just on the plane or in the hostel it slammed into, but also the neighbourhood. The government has confirmed that only one of the 242 people on board the plane survived, and eight bodies of people who died at the BJ Medical College hostel were handed over to their families on Friday. In addition, the 15-year-old son of a tea-seller who was sleeping under a tree, Akash Patni, was confirmed dead as well. Around 20 more people – all on the ground – were feared dead, but confusion reigned on the exact number. 'As of Friday, the death toll stood at 270. Today, we recovered three additional bodies, including one from the tail section of the aircraft. Search and recovery operations for the remaining victims continue,' a police official stated. But Dhaval Gameti, president of the Junior Doctors Association at B.J. Medical College, told reporters that at least 270 bodies were recovered from the site of the crash. 'The eight bodies handed to the families on Friday did not need DNA identification. They had died after the wall collapsed. But 11 passenger bodies were examined for DNA sampling on Saturday because of the burn injuries. It matched with the blood samples given by the victims,' said medical college dean Meenakshi Desai, adding that the hospital authorities were waiting for four families to give their samples. Later in the evening, state home minister Harsh Sanghavi said in a post on X that the matching process for 19 victims was completed. 'DNA Matching Progress: 19 DNA samples have been matched so far, confirming the identities of victims,' he said. Emergency services continued recovery efforts, extracting a badly burnt body from the wreckage on Saturday before cranes were deployed to clear debris. DNA identification is underway to confirm victim identities, with relatives, some traveling to India, providing samples to assist. The flight carried 169 Indian, 53 British, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian passenger, along with 12 crew members. The deceased include at least four medical students and two of their relatives who were inside the hostel where the plane crashed. Only one British nation, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, survived. Three forensic science laboratory teams were engaged in DNA sample analysis, and so far, blood samples from 248 relatives were collected, a Civil Hospital official said on condition of anonymity. At the Trauma Centre, the health department deployed five teams comprising around 100 specialists and assistants in orthopaedics, neurology, medicine, plastic surgery, and burns. Additionally, a team of 32 experts and 20 assistants was stationed at the post-mortem room, while 12 experts were operating at the testing facility of B.J. Medical College. The DNA matching process is being conducted with support from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) and the National Forensic Science University (NFSU). Hospital authorities have established strict protocols. A close relative who provided the DNA sample should come in person to collect the body. If unavailable, other close family members may collect the body. If the person who gave the DNA sample cannot come personally, they must send an authorised representative with a proper authority letter. Some relatives expressed frustration that the process was taking too long. Authorities say it normally takes up to 72 hours to complete DNA matching and they are expediting the process. Navib Sheikh, who lost four members of his family, asked, 'The doctors are saying it will take 72 hours. The mother of the girl who died does not know that her daughter is no more. We gave the DNA samples on the day the incident took place. Why is it taking so long?' Sheikh's relatives Mariam Ali Syed, her husband Javed, and their two children, Zayn, 5, and Amani, 4, perished. State Emergency Commissioner Alok Pandey said the deceased were from 18 of Gujarat's 33 districts. 'A grief counsellor has been appointed for each family to address the mental trauma. The families of the 11 foreign nationals have also been contacted, and they will arrive here by noon tomorrow,' he added. Dean Desai said, 'The forensic science laboratory is working round-the-clock to match the samples. We hope to release the report of 10-20 samples every day. The bodies of the passengers are being handled in a dignified way.' Explaining the process, Desai said that the tissue from bones and teeth of charred bodies were taken up for DNA profiling. ' Taking samples in case of a charred body is possible but it takes time. In case of immediate relatives, the results are delivered immediately. For distant relatives, it may take time. But all bodies will be identified and handed to the families for a dignified funeral.' Throughout Saturday, families of those who died in the crash continued to wait outside the mortuary. Among them was Yash Mistry, a resident of Anand in Gujarat, whose sister, Kinal, was among the passengers on the Air India flight. 'This morning, a police inspector explained the process. We have been given a slip with a number. The hospital authorities said that each one of us will get a call, once the body is identified. We have been told to present this slip containing the number at the counter in the hospital. Once they match the number and our identity, then the bodies will be returned.' Police officials at the mortuary said that each passenger, whose identity was not known, too was assigned a number. 'The number and the blood sample given by the relatives is matched. This is how the bodies will be handed. We have told the relatives not to stand in this heat outside the mortuary and urged them to return to the accommodation provided by the government until then,' they added. Aamir, whose brother Irfan Sheikh, a flight crew member, is suspected to be among the dead, said the hospital authorities said that the body would be handed in by Saturday night or soon. 'We are hoping to receive a call from the hospital anytime. Each time the phone rings, we hope this is a call from them. We want to take our brother home at the earliest.'
India Today
20 hours ago
- General
- India Today
Gujarat mother escapes Air India plane crash, son sleeping inside tea stall dies
A 14-year-old boy, who was sleeping under a tree near his family's tea stall in Ahmedabad, died after an Air India plane crashed into a nearby resident doctors' hostel in Ahmedabad on Thursday. Her mother survived the tragedy, but was hospitalised with burn victim, Akash Patni, was sleeping in the tea stall close to the BJ Medical College hostel building where the London-bound flight turned into a massive fireball, minutes after taking off from Ahmedabad mother, Sitaben, unsuccessfully tried to save her son from the fire and debris and was hospitalised with burn injuries. A video showed Sitaben running amid a massive fire and thick plumes of black smoke engulfing the area as panic-stricken people ran for their lives. (The video below may be disturbing. Viewers' discretion advised) Sitaben, who is admitted to the ICU at the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad, said she did not see the flight, but heard a loud explosion and saw plumes of black smoke."The plane crashed behind (our tea stall) and there was a loud sound. A massive fire broke out. Nothing was visible. My son was sleeping inside the shop and he died," she victim's father Suresh Kumar, who also survived the tragedy, recalled the circumstances that led to the plane crash and the death of his son and I were at home and my wife was at the tea stall. He had gone to give food to my wife. He fed his mother and slept there at the shop. Suddenly, the plane crashed and there was a massive fire near our shop. My wife survived and she has been hospitalised," he said he and his family were looking for Akash but were told by the hospital authorities that his body was kept in the AIR INDIA PLANE CRASHThe Air India plane, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, carried 242 people - 230 passengers, two pilots and 10 crew members - and was headed for London's Gatwick airport after it took off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad at 1.39 pm on Thursday. The plane went up to 625 feet before it descended rapidly, and then crashed into the BJ Medical College and crash killed 265 people, including 241 passengers on board, and left just one survivor, an Indian-origin British national, who is hospitalised. The Ahmedabad tragedy is one of the world's worst aviation disasters in a crash marked the first fatal accident involving a 787 since its commercial debut in the crash, all planes under the Boeing 787-8/9 fleet of Air India will undergo an enhanced safety inspection starting Sunday, the Civil Aviation Ministry has engine and hydraulic systems monitoring are among the advanced checks ordered by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which will seek a report of the checks for review.(with inputs from Vidya Kumar)Tune InMust Watch IN THIS STORY#Ahmedabad Plane Crash#Ahmedabad
Int'l Business Times
20 hours ago
- General
- Int'l Business Times
Survival And Loss In Air India Plane Disaster
Grieving families are mourning at least 279 killed when a London-bound passenger jet crashed in India, with the victims in Ahmedabad ranging from a top politician to a teenage tea seller. One man on board the plane, which was carrying 242 passengers and crew, miraculously survived the fiery crash on Thursday afternoon. But that lone British citizen was the only story of escape from the jet. "I saw my child for the first time in two years, it was a great time," said Anil Patel, whose son and daughter-in-law had surprised him with a visit from Britain. "And now, there is nothing," he said, breaking down in tears. "Whatever the gods wanted has happened." Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian on board the flight bound for London's Gatwick airport, as well as 12 crew members. At least 38 people were killed on the ground. The nose and front wheel of the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner landed on a canteen building where medical students were having lunch. Mohit Chavda, 25, a junior doctor in Ahmedabad, described how he escaped through choking black smoke after the plane smashed into the dining hall. "There was almost zero visibility," Chavda said. "We were not able to see even who was sitting beside us -- so we just ran from there." Scorch marks scar the buildings, where chunks of the plane were embedded into its walls. Among the dead was Vijay Rupani, 68, a senior member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party and former chief minister of Gujarat state. But they also included teenager Akash Patni, who Indian media reported had been snoozing under a tree in the fierce heat of the day near his family's tea stall in Ahmedabad. "He caught fire in front of my eyes," his mother Kalpesh Patni said, weeping as she talked to the Indian Express newspaper. "I won't be able to live without him." Businessman Suresh Mistry, 53, said his daughter Kinal was a trained dancer, an excellent cook and a yoga enthusiast. A chef in London, she had been visiting her family in India and postponed her flight to stay a few more days. Mistry described the last time he spoke to her, when she called to say the plane was about to take off and he could head back home without any worry. He said he couldn't stop thinking about how, if she had stuck to her original plan, "she would have been alive". At least 24 people were killed on the ground in Ahmedabad AFP Kalpesh Patni mourns the death of his teenage brother Akash Patni, who was sleeping on the ground when the jet crashed AFP
The Independent
a day ago
- General
- The Independent
‘My grandson was burnt alive': Grief engulfs neighbourhood where Air India crash killed dozens on the ground
Grief hangs heavy in Meghani Nagar in Ahmedabad, as the wreckage of a London‑bound Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner lies smouldering in the compound of BJ Medical College. The devastating crash – which took place around 2pm local time on Thursday – left emergency services scrambling amid thick plumes of smoke and debris, entire streets in shock and families shattered. All but one of the 242 people on board the flight were killed, but there were dozens more fatalities on the ground as the plane came down in a residential area. Among those devastated by the unfathomable tragedy is the Patni family. Seventy-year-old Babibehen Babu Bhai Patni sits on the gritty communal floor of her residential society, utterly inconsolable. Click here for the latest updates on the crash She mourns her 12-year-old grandson Akash, whose life was tragically cut short, while her son and daughter‑in‑law suffered grievous injuries. The young boy was accompanying his mother, Sitabehen Patni, when he fell asleep beneath a tree near their tea stall on the college grounds. Moments later, the aircraft hurtled from the sky, engulfing him in a fatal fire. 'All that remains of him is his burnt body, almost looking like a piece of ash,' Babibehen says, her voice choked with agony. 'My daughter… her arm, her leg, all burnt. She is serious and in ICU. My son is also burnt. Nothing of my grandson's is left. What will I do? Is this even his age to die?' Her grief is unfiltered, raw, and unrelenting as she wails loudly, surrounded by the women of her community. The body of Akash remains at the hospital in Ahmedabad, awaiting identification and release to his family – a cruel limbo that amplifies her sorrow. Outside the Civil Hospital, 24‑year‑old Kajal Patni – Akash's grief-struck elder sister – waits in the oppressive sun as she retraces the final moments of her brother's life 'He had gone to get lunch for my parents at around 2pm,' she explains. 'Mum had come home for a quick shower, so he took a nap waiting for her. She was almost back when the crash happened. A deafening explosion was followed by wisps of dark smoke. When she ran towards him, everything was pitch‑black. Tears stream down her face. 'The authorities haven't told me when I will see his body. I just want my brother… I feel restless, suffocated, like I cannot breathe. Both my children used to play around him. What will I tell them?' This grief is not contained within hospital walls; it spills across the campus grounds, amplified by cellphone videos circulating of Akash's charred, unidentifiable remains lying in the rubble. Inside the medical college hostel kitchen, 30‑year‑old Shahana Khatoon was cleaning pots when the calamity struck. 'I heard a huge explosion,' she recalls, eyes distant. 'Suddenly, everything went black – from the dense smoke. At first, I thought it was a big storm. But then people started yelling, 'A plane has crashed! Run!' Debris and dust filled the air. I was terrified.' She and a colleague attempted to flee, aided by two boys eating at a café nearby. 'They saved us, but both were injured in the melee,' she says, referring to the chaos left in the wake of the crash. Now, Khatoon anxiously awaits news of her missing co‑worker and the woman's two-year-old granddaughter, Adiya. 'Their bodies haven't been found,' she says, voice quivering. 'We're still looking for them.' Her husband, Kurban Ali, 35, rushed to the site fearing for his wife and daughter's lives. 'I was frantic,' he says. 'Police wouldn't let me in. My wife and daughter returned about four hours later – thankfully okay –but those hours were quite painful for me. I did not know whether they were dead or alive.' 'It was at least an hour after the incident, that my wife managed to contact me and tell that she was safe,' he says, standing outside his society. Footage recorded by residents captured the scene: thick black smoke swallowed hundreds of metres of the campus, as survivors frantically tried to escape the blast zone. From his sixth-floor kitchen window, 38‑year‑old Arunbhai Mangal Bhai Parmar witnessed the horrifying descent of the aircraft. 'It was flying straight, then suddenly just stopped –parked in the air – and plunged,' he says, mimicking its sudden drop. 'Then came the blast.' He tried to assist but was thwarted by fire and security barriers, he says. 'The rescue work could only begin once the fire brigade arrived – about 30 minutes later. Even then, I could do nothing; police had already blocked access.' Surrounding streets were thrown into pandemonium. Just next door, 55‑year‑old Suresh Bhai was tending to his sewing shop when he heard the tremendous impact. 'At first, we thought it was a bomb. There was a massive plume of smoke, and we were terrified there might be another explosion,' he recalls. 'At first we thought it was an attack or something. There was a lot of chaos. Everyone started rushing down. Firefighters came in soon. We were all scared that what if it is a bomb blast and feared there might be another." In the hours that followed the crash, debris lay strewn across the campus compound. Initial images show a jagged section of fuselage embedded in the college building. At least five medical students enrolled at BJ Medical College died, and around fifty others were injured. The charred remains of the building where the jet had smashed remain ominously blackened. The impact of the plane crash could also be seen outside the post-mortem office of Civil Hospital, located about a kilometre from the impact site. The air was thick with the smell of burnt bodies, with officials, civilians and media personnel roaming around with their faces covered with masks. Hundreds of relatives gathered outside sat inert, their expressions vacant with loss and uncertainty. Some waited for the bodies of loved ones, others held on to a flicker of hope, as ambulances arrived in quick succession. Security forces – police, CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force), NSG (National Security Guard) and NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) – were rapidly deployed after the crash, and the government swiftly imposed strict information controls. Air India's parent company, the Tata Group, has pledged Rs10m – roughly £86,000 –to the next of kin of each victim. They will also cover medical expenses of the injured and assist in rebuilding parts of the college. But as yet, the final death toll from the ground has yet to be confirmed. Officials on condition of anonymity told The Independent that at least seven bodies have been released to families after post‑mortem checks and DNA tests. A senior hospital official said: 'They have instructed us not to release the death toll for another two days, until all bodies are identified.'
Straits Times
2 days ago
- General
- Straits Times
Anxious families await dental identification of Air India crash victims
FILE PHOTO: Daksha Patni mourns for her relative Akash Patni, 14, who died when an Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft crashed during take-off from an airport, as she waits outside the post-mortem room at a hospital, in Ahmedabad, India, June 13, 2025. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File Photo Health workers shift the body of a victim, who died in the plane crash, to a cold storage at a hospital, in the aftermath of an Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crash during take-off from an airport, in Ahmedabad, India, June 13, 2025. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi A family member of one of the victims who died when the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane bound for London's Gatwick Airport crashed during take-off from Ahmedabad reacts as he waits to give a DNA sample at a hospital in Ahmedabad, India June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi People wait for their turn to give DNA samples to identify the family members who died after the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane bound for London's Gatwick Airport, crashed during take-off from Ahmedabad, at a hospital in Ahmedabad, India June 13, 2025. REUTERS/Amit Dave Kalpeshbhai Patni, 28, mourns as he sits outside the postmortem room at a hospital, for his brother Akash Patni, 14, who died when an Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane crashed during take-off from an airport, in Ahmedabad, India, June 13, 2025. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi AHMEDABAD, India - Dozens of anxious family members sat outside an Indian hospital on Friday waiting to collect bodies of loved ones killed in the Air India plane crash, as doctors worked to gather dental samples from the deceased and run identification checks. In the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade, an Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with 242 people on board bound for London took off from Ahmedabad on Thursday but crashed within about 30 seconds, erupting into a massive fireball. Outside the B.J. Medical College in Ahmedabad, an elderly woman said four of her relatives including two children were onboard the flight, but declined to speak further to the media until the bodies were handed over. "Can you give us the dead bodies? If not then we will not give interviews. We are so tired now," she said in frustration. Other relatives sat patiently at the hospital where many have in recent hours given blood samples for DNA profiling at a dedicated centre for collection. At the hospital, Jaishankar Pillai, a forensic dentist, told reporters the doctors were in the autopsy room until 4:30 a.m. on Friday collecting dental samples, as "teeth can withstand the heat", and they hoped they could use them for identification. "We have recorded the dental records of 135 charred victims ... it's a very pathetic situation," said Pillai, adding he did not have data for how many bodies had been identified so far. Officials outside the autopsy room told Reuters at least seven bodies had been handed over to their relatives after identification checks. DNA TESTING The state administration said in a statement 219 relatives of crash victims had come forward for DNA testing and blood samples, while many others were being contacted. In the case of dental records, a person is not typically identified based on a relative's teeth, but through reference to the victim's prior dental charts, radiographs, mouth guards or other records. Pillai added that even a selfie photograph of the victim could help doctors match the gap between two teeth to run checks. Scenes of distress played out beside the autopsy room. Daksha Patni was mourning the loss of her nephew, 14-year-old Akash Patni, and wailing as she waited for his body. Akash had been near his family-run tea stall and was killed on the ground by the impact of the plane hitting a building. "Hospital people aren't giving any good response. They are just saying 'come after 72 hours'. We are poor - that's why we are not allowed inside," Daksha told Reuters. The cause of the crash, the first for a Boeing Dreamliner wide-body airliner, has not yet been determined and India's aviation minister said a formal investigation had begun. A family member of another victim, 81-year-old Abdur Razzaq Chitthi Wala, told IANS news agency he was not being allowed to verify the body. "I received a video showing his body, it's burnt, but the face is clearly visible. All I'm asking is to let me verify the body," said the relative, who did not share his name during the interview. "They are saying give your blood sample, and you will get a call." REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
