Ahmedabad: The process of handing over mortal remains of the Ahmedabad plane crash victims, after matching DNA samples, has begun three days after the horrific tragedy.
However, authorities are facing a humongous challenge, given the nature of the crash.
Air India flight AI-171, carrying 242 persons on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, crashed into a medical college hostel building 30 seconds after taking off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.
The plane broke into pieces following the explosion, caused by a full tank of 125,000 litres of fuel.
Some of the bodies have been charred beyond recognition, and many were split into parts.
Even if DNA matching is successful, it’s almost impossible to get different parts of dismembered bodies together.
Grieving families, who can now only hope to perform the last rites of their near and dear ones, have asked for the release of the full remains of victims’ bodies, not just parts, The Times of India reported.
A man was seen pleading with officials to be handed over all the remains of his family members for, but he was told this was an improbable task.
“It was hard to convince him,” the report quoted an official as saying.
In another heart-wrenching case, a victim’s family member found two heads inside one body bag.
“This will require the DNA sampling process to be repeated as the parts belong to two victims and shouldn’t be in the same bag,” a senior official at the Civil Hospital said.
With 270 bodies – including 241 on board the Air India flight and 29 on ground — having been brought to the Civil Hospital after Thursday’s crash, families of victims have been thronging outside the mortuary as authorities carry out DNA tests.
According to Rajnish Patel, additional medical superintendent of BJ Medical College, 32 bodies have so far been identified through DNA sampling and matching process, of which 12 bodies have been handed over to their families.
But as the process continues, authorities are facing more and more hurdles, testing the patience of victims’ family members more and more.
