2 days ago
A city in mourning: Families gather to identify loved ones lost in plane crash
Till late Thursday night, family members of the plane crash victims arrived at the BJ Medical College in Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, providing DNA samples from across Gujarat and other states to help identify their relatives.
A relative of one of the cabin crew members —Shraddha Dhawan — had also reached the hospital seeking information about the crash.
'My brother, Rajesh Nair, who is also a crew member in Air India will be here anytime. I am here to inquire about my sister-in-law Shraddha,' Santosh Nair, who reached Ahmedabad from Mumbai, told this correspondent.
Earlier, the authorities had requested the family members of the victims to donate samples to identify the deceased as several bodies were charred beyond recognition.
The post-mortem examination of the victims of London-bound Air India flight AI171 carrying 242 passengers and crew members operating from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, that crashed in Ahmedabad's Meghaninagar area near the city's airport is underway at the Civil Hospital Asarwa.
Senior government officials told The Indian Express that by Thursday midnight, samples for nearly 200 passengers had been collected at the BJ Medical College's Kasauti Bhavan (examination hall) on the civil hospital campus, the place designated by the authorities for DNA sample collection. 'Since all bodies have not been identified, we are collecting the DNA samples. The BJMC staff is collecting blood samples of first degree family members. So far, samples for around 200 passengers have been collected and the process is on. The confirmation is likely to come within 72 hours of sample collection,' a senior government official, on the condition of anonymity, told this paper.
The civil hospital has arranged counselling staff at the Kasauti Bhavan for the grief-stricken family members. Meanwhile, near the sample collecting area, several family members were inconsolable even as others were waiting their turn to share their DNA samples. The staff from the Ahmedabad Collector office has also been deployed with a list of passengers on board to verify who all have given the DNA samples. A help desk has also been set up for the family members by the police.
