RELATIVES of the people who died in the Air India crash begun receiving bodies of their loved ones in white coffins on Sunday, with some families readying for performing the last rites.
Witnesses at the crash site said the bodies were badly burned and dismembered. A crash victim’s relative told AFP news agency they had been advised not to open the coffins.
“My heart is very heavy, how do we give the bodies to the families?” NGO worker Tushar Leuva told AFP news agency.
Rajnish Patel, the chief medical officer at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, said 31 bodies had been identified so far through DNA matches.
“12 bodies have been handed over to their respective family members. We are waiting for others to come and collect the remains of their relatives,” he told India’s ANI news agency.
The cause of the crash is not yet clear, as investigations are underway. One of the two flight data recorders, known as black boxes, has been recovered, and authorities expect initial findings to be available soon.
Officials told NDTV news station that the flight had undergone comprehensive maintenance checks in June 2023, and the next round of checks were due in December this year.
Air India said the flight was carrying 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, 7 Portuguese and one Canadian, plus 12 crew members. The fatal crash killed 241 on board and left only one survivor.
More than 30 were killed on the ground as the flight rammed into a medical student college building. Most of those who were injured have been discharged, but one or two remain in critical condition.
The flight issued a mayday call just moments before it crashed around 1:38 p.m. local time (0808 GMT). India’s aviation authority also said on Saturday that the plane began to descend after reaching 650 feet (almost 200 meters), having barely left the runway at Ahmedabad airport.
