DNA tests will be carried out to ascertain the identities of those who perished in the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad city on Thursday afternoon, a senior Gujarat health department official said even as he refused to cite death toll figures.
The Air India Ahmedabad-London flight, with 230 passengers and 12 crew members on board, crashed minutes after taking off at 1:39pm. from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport here. Videos showed the jet losing altitude before crashing, triggering a ball of fire followed by thick plumes of smoke rising into the sky."To identify those who lost their lives in the plane crash, arrangements have been made by Ahmedabad Civil Hospital to collect DNA samples. Close relatives, such as parents or children, of the deceased will be able to give DNA samples at Kasoti Bhavan of BJ Medical College of Ahmedabad Civil Hospital," state health department principal secretary Dhananjay Dwivedi said here.
He refused to divulge details of the death toll in the crash.Dwivedi said several persons were injured as the plane crashed into the residential quarters of doctors serving in the civil hospital and studying in BJ Medical College."Fifty persons, who were injured in the incident, are currently being treated at the Civil Hospital. All the patients are stable," said Dwivedi.
There was no official count of those killed even hours after the Boeing 787 Dreamliner (AI171) crashed in the city civil hospital and BJ Medical College near the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport and burst into a ball of fire.As rescuers struggled to find survivors in the charred wreckage and pull out the injured, many of them with grievous burns, officials tried to assess the human magnitude of the disaster. Unofficial reports said chances of survival of those on board were remote and up to 25 people in the medical complex could also have died.
According to Air India, of the 230 passengers, 169 were Indians, 53 British, seven Portuguese and one Canadian. The other 12 were two pilots and 10 crew members.The pilot of the twin-engine wide bodied aircraft issued a 'Mayday' distress call, denoting a full emergency, soon after takeoff at 1.39 pm, the Air Traffic Control at Ahmedabad said.
The search was also on for the aircraft's black box -- the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder -- for clues to understand what happened in the last crucial moments.The 11-year-old aircraft could be seen from miles away, losing altitude rapidly and combusting in a fiery blaze that sent plumes of thick black smoke spiralling up in the air.
The aircraft climbed just about 600-800 feet before plummeting to the ground almost immediately, aviation sources said.
Former Gujarat chief minister and BJP leader Vijay Rupani was among the passengers on the doomed flight to London’s Gatwick airport.“The aircraft departed from Ahmedabad at 1339 IST (0809 UTC) from Runway 23. It gave a MAYDAY Call to ATC, but thereafter no response was given by the aircraft to the calls made by ATC,” according to a statement from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).Visuals from the wreckage area showed bodies being pulled out and the injured, many with burns, wheeled into the city civil hospital close by.
Follow us
