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India Today
16 hours ago
- General
- India Today
231 plane crash victims identified through DNA tests, 210 bodies returned to family
More than a week after the devastating Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, authorities have identified 231 victims through DNA testing. Of these, 210 bodies have been handed over to their families so far.'Till Friday evening, 231 DNA samples have been matched and relatives have been contacted. So far, the mortal remains of 210 victims have been handed over to families,' Rakesh Joshi, Medical Superintendent of Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, was quoted as saying by news agency those returned to their families are 199 passengers—155 Indians, 36 British nationals, 7 Portuguese nationals, and 1 Canadian. The remaining 11 were local residents who were killed when the aircraft slammed into buildings near the crash site. At present, 21 identified bodies are still at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital. While DNA matches have been confirmed for all of them, the formalities are still pending. Ten families are expected to collect the remains by Saturday morning. Another three will be handed over after necessary air clearance. The remaining eight are linked to pending DNA confirmations of other of the deceased were earlier handed over without DNA testing as their identities were clearly established. Additionally, three local residents succumbed to injuries during treatment, bringing the total number of ground fatalities to crash, which occurred on June 12, claimed over 270 lives making it one of the deadliest air disasters in India's recent history. Of the 242 passengers and crew members onboard the doomed flight, 241 died in the crash. The lone survivor was Vishwas Kumar, a 28-year-old tech consultant seated near the emergency exit on seat London-bound Air India flight AI-171 had barely taken off from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport when it plunged into a medical college complex in the Meghaninagar area. The impact was so severe that many bodies were charred or mangled beyond recognition, prompting the need for extensive DNA Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has recovered the black box of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which will be key to understanding what caused the aircraft to go down so soon after InMust Watch IN THIS STORY#Ahmedabad Plane Crash
Khaleej Times
18 hours ago
- Sport
- Khaleej Times
Ahmedabad plane crash: India, England teams wear black armbands to pay tribute to victims
On the opening day of the first Test of the five-match series at Headingley for the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, India and England sported black armbands as a mark of respect for those who lost their lives in the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad last week. On June 12, the London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft crashed into a hostel complex shortly after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, killing 241 passengers and crew, including former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. One passenger, Vishwas Kumar, survived the tragic incident. A perfectly observed minutes silence. This morning we remember those lost in the tragic Air India crash last week. — England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 20, 2025 England Cricket earlier took to social media and confirmed, "Both teams will wear black armbands today as a mark of respect for those who lost their lives in the Air India plane crash. Out thoughts are with all those affected by the terrible events that took place in Ahmedabad last week."
India Gazette
4 days ago
- India Gazette
Air India's Bengaluru-London flight cancelled due to aircraft unavailability
New Delhi [India], June 17 (ANI): Air India on Tuesday said that its flight from Bengaluru to London's Heathrow was cancelled on Tuesday due to the unavailability of the aircraft, following government-mandated inspections across the Boeing 787 fleet, as per sources. According to sources, this was a scheduled operational cancellation, and all impacted passengers were informed in advance. Air India provided options for rebooking, full refunds, and free cancellations. Apart from this, a flight from Ahmedabad to Gatwick in London was also cancelled on Tuesday due to the unavailability of the aircraft, resulting from airspace restrictions and additional precautionary checks. The airline denied claims that the flight has been cancelled due to any technical snag. Regretting the inconvenience caused to passengers, the airline said that alternative arrangements have been made to fly them to their destination. It said hotel accommodation is being provided, and refunds on cancellations or complimentary rescheduling are also being offered if opted by the passengers 'Flight AI159 from Ahmedabad to Gatwick has been cancelled today due to the unavailability of the aircraft, resulting from airspace restrictions and additional precautionary checks, leading to longer than usual turnaround of aircraft, and not due to any technical snag as claimed,' the airline said. 'We regret the inconvenience caused to our passengers and have made alternative arrangements to fly them to their destination. We are providing hotel accommodation and also offering full refunds on cancellations or complimentary rescheduling if opted by the passengers. Consequently, flight AI170 from London Gatwick to Amritsar on 17th June stands cancelled,' it added. There have been airspace restrictions due to Iran-Israel conflict. The London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft crashed into a hostel complex shortly after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on June 12, killing 241 passengers and crew, including former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. One passenger, Vishwas Kumar, survived the tragic incident. (ANI)
Indian Express
12-06-2025
- General
- Indian Express
‘Most of the passengers were still strapped to their seats': First responders recount scenes of Ahmedabad plane crash horror
'Almost 70% of the passengers were found in their seats, most of them had their seatbelts on…' This was how a first responder, who rushed to the site of the Air India plane crash near Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, described the horrific scene that he witnessed on Thursday afternoon. Another first responder said that a few passengers were found near the emergency doors of the aircraft. It was one of these emergency doors through which 39-year-old Vishwas Kumar, a passenger who survived the crash, is said to have exited the burning aircraft. When the fire department and police control room received the first messages of the crash around 1.38 pm, many officers said that they thought the plane had been involved in an accident on the airport premises, possibly due to an aborted take-off or landing attempt. But as they reached the site of the crash, a cluster of hostel buildings housing students of a medical college, the scale of the disaster dawned upon them. The first set of people to reach the spot was the airport's own fire department, which used foam to control the blaze enveloping the aircraft. Soon, 130 personnel of the Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Services (AFES) along with the City Police reached the site. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) pressed six teams, three each from Gandhinagar and Vadodara, into service. Meanwhile, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at the airport as well as the Rapid Action Force (RAF) also arrived at the spot. According to an Army spokesperson, Relief and Rescue columns were dispatched from the Ahmedabad Cantonment of the Southern Command. The debris of the aircraft was spread over an area spanning 500 metres. First responders, though, said that some pieces were also found 900 metres away. Three of the four buildings that the plane hit were on fire after the right side of the aircraft sheared through them. The tail end of the aircraft was found embedded in the top floor of the first building, where the medical students were having lunch in the canteen. Firefighters told The Indian Express that the black box had been retrieved from this spot using cranes and other heavy moving equipment. Eyewitnesses, including The Indian Express staff, spotted the left wing of the aircraft, which had also got detached, lying a few metres away from the rest of the plane that had split into several sections. More than 40-50 vehicles on the ground are also said to have been destroyed in the crash. Another official said, 'It appears that the landing gear broke off first, then the tail end and then the rest of the aircraft…' Several hundred litres of highly flammable Aviation Gasoline was sprayed across the crash site, leading to a number of fires, burning at more than 700 degrees Celsius. The water that had pooled around the site during the 45-minute firefighting operations was so hot that, according to eyewitnesses, people without protective gear were left scalded. Most of the passengers had third-degree burns and some of the bodies retrieved from the aircraft were so charred that a number of first responders that The Indian Express reached out to said they could not put in words what they witnessed at the site of the tragedy. Aircraft crash investigators reached the site within four hours of the incident. Police are likely to preserve the crash site for about two days to let the forensic experts do their job. Police personnel would be deployed around the perimeter to ensure no trespassers. Just a couple of kilometres away, the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital witnessed heart-rending scenes as the family members, still in shock, gave their blood samples for DNA profiling so that the remains of their loved ones could be accurately identified. This process is likely to take 72 hours, prolonging the pain of the grieving families sitting around the post mortem room as hospital staff remove fresh white linen from their plastic packets to cover the bodies flowing into the hospital. It is going to be a long night for them.
