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Air India 171 crash: Last DNA match day after family holds symbolic funeral
Friday marked Ashadhi Beej, when Kutchhis celebrate their new year.
But the Khimani family was grieving. They were grieving the loss of their loved one, Anil Khimani (32), who was on the London-bound AI 171 that crashed in Ahmedabad on June 12. They were also grieving because his was the only body among the 241 dead that had not yet been identified through a DNA match.
Searching for 'closure' and to 'overcome the guilt' of not being able to bid a respectful farewell, the Khimanis held a 'symbolic' funeral at Dahinsara, their village in Bhuj, on Thursday followed by a prayer meeting on Friday.
Hours after the prayer was held, however, a senior government official told The Indian Express that they were finally able to find a DNA match and identify Anil's body.
'Multiple rounds of processing for DNA extraction were undertaken, considering that the sample was too degraded with charring… But eventually, it was matched. The family will be informed, the DNA match will give them final closure,' the official said.
Speaking to The Indian Express earlier Friday, Anil's older brother Rakesh said 'the reason for organising the symbolic funeral was that two weeks had passed since the crash'.
'The time had surpassed the stipulated window to organise the rituals as per our Swaminarayan traditions. We needed to perform the rituals within 12 days… His wife and family remained in hope that he, too, may have survived the crash… But the truth is bitter and we have to accept that no one else was lucky. It is all fate and God's will,' he said.
'There is no use of living in denial. He has two young children, whose future could be secured with the compensation money that has been promised but the person has been lost forever,' Rakesh said.
Anil was a tile setter known for his 'skill' and 'precision'. Booked on Seat 21G, he was travelling to the UK for the first time, on an invitation from 'distant relatives' for six months.
'This was his first trip to London. He used to work in Seychelles before moving back to India and joining our family's maintenance business. Over the past few years, he mastered the skill of laying tiles… He was looking forward to making the most of the UK trip by exploring possibilities for a future move as well,' Rakesh said.
Survived by his parents, wife and two daughters — one aged five years and the other a newborn of five months — Anil was the second among three siblings. His younger sister is settled in Uganda.
On Thursday, as his family members organised the funeral at the local crematorium and the prayer meeting a day later at the Swaminarayan temple in Dahinsara, residents from the mixed neighbourhood gathered in large numbers to share their grief.
In Ahmedabad, meanwhile, the body of British citizen Fiongal Cuchullain Greenlaw, the co-founder of Wellness Foundry, was handed over to his family members at the mortuary complex of the Civil Hospital. The body of his partner Jamie Ray Meek had been identified and handed over earlier.
— With ENS, Ahmedabad
