Ahmedabad:
As Authorities on Friday continued the process to identify through DNA sampling the deceased in the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, grieving members of the families of Air India Flight Crash victims arrived in Ahmedabad.
A family member of one of the deceased, while speaking to ANI, said, “We have come here from the Patan district. My sister-in-law died in the plane crash that occurred yesterday. DNA test was done yesterday; her brother gave his samples.”
He added, “They have asked for 72 hours, following which they would hand over her body to us after confirmation. We do not know how it all happened. A committee has been formed, and this should be investigated. So many people died.”
Meanwhile, students were seen exiting with their luggage from BJ Medical College’s doctors’ hostel, where the London-bound Air India flight crashed on Thursday.
Many students were seen with injuries, fractures, and damaged belongings.
The AI-171 Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 aeroplane bound for London’s Gatwick had crashed shortly after it took off from the Ahmedabad International Airport on Thursday. The airlines said 241 people on board the aircraft died in the crash, and one person miraculously survived the crash.
The aircraft was piloted by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, a Line Training Captain with 8,200 hours of flying experience, assisted by First Officer Clive Kundar, who had logged 1,100 flying hours.
According to Air Traffic Control (ATC), the aircraft departed from Ahmedabad at 1.39 pm (0809 UTC) from runway 23. It made a Mayday call to ATC, but thereafter, the aircraft did not respond to the calls made by ATC.
Immediately after departing Runway 23, the aircraft crashed outside the airport perimeter. An official said heavy black smoke was coming from the accident site.
A formal investigation has been launched by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) into the deadly crash of Air India flight 171 that killed 241 people onboard, Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu confirmed on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital on Friday and met with Vishwashkumar Ramesh.
Before arriving at the hospital, PM Modi inspected the plane crash site and took stock of the ground situation. He also held a review meeting with the officials at the airport in Ahmedabad.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
