Ahmedabad: A week has passed since the devastating crash of Air India Flight AI-171 in Ahmedabad, which resulted in the deaths of 295 people, including 241 passengers and crew onboard. The scale of the tragedy has left authorities at Civil Hospital working around the clock to complete DNA matching before releasing the bodies to their families. So far, 211 victims have been identified and their remains handed over.
The crash left only one survivor, a passenger from Diu. The rest of those onboard perished when the aircraft crashed into a medical college hostel building shortly after takeoff. The impact also caused several casualties on the ground, including students and staff residing in the hostel. Since the incident, the post-mortem and forensic teams have been continuously working to identify the deceased and reunite them with their families.
As of today, exactly one week since the June 12 accident, 211 victims have been successfully identified through DNA analysis. Among them was four-year-old Sara, who died alongside her parents in the crash. Her relatives rushed to Ahmedabad to collect her remains so she could be laid to rest beside her parents. Another young victim identified was 18-month-old Fatima Shethwala.
Authorities have confirmed that the flight’s manifest listed 13 children under the age of 12, including three infants under the age of two. Several other young victims were between the ages of 11 and 18. The identification of minors has posed additional challenges for forensic experts.
Explaining the complexity of the process, Dr. Jayasankar Pillai, a forensic odontologist from the Government Dental College in Gujarat, said: “In children, the body mass is less and so the tissue damage and the exposure of long bones to heat is more. Teeth, though, can withstand heat as they are more robust.”
He further elaborated on the unique difficulties of dental DNA extraction in child victims: “DNA can be extracted from any tooth in children, but the front teeth cannot be used as heat degrades them in case of fire accidents. So we take DNA from molars. In children aged less than six years, we can’t get a permanent molar… They mostly have milk teeth, and sometimes even those are destroyed as the arch is very small. So we make an incision in the jaw and try to get the permanent molar developing inside.”
Temperatures at the crash site are believed to have reached over 1,600°F within minutes, severely damaging many of the bodies. “So, only partial DNA profiles are available for some, whom we suspect are minors,” an official said, adding that it is difficult to match these with “undoubted accuracy” to their relatives.
In Vadodara, the Vahora family is still awaiting news. They lost three members in the crash. While Yasmin’s body was returned to the family on Monday, the remains of Pervez and his four-year-old daughter Zuveriya are yet to be identified. “The family needs closure to come to terms with the loss,” said a close friend.