AHMEDABAD: The process to identify victims of the June 12 AI-171 air crash picked up pace on Monday as officials said DNA samples of 119 of them have been successfully matched. At least 270 people perished in the aircrash.
Ahmedabad Civil Hospital Superintendent Dr Rakesh Joshi said 64 bodies have already been handed over to the respective families. Another 24 families are expected to collect the mortal remains of their loved ones in the coming days, while 11 families await confirmation of DNA matches with additional relatives.
Twelve families are still awaiting final DNA results. Authorities expect the identification to conclude swiftly once pending reports are in.
Among the bodies identified on Sunday was that of former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani. He was cremated in Rajkot with full state honours on Monday.
Probe teams scouring the aircraft debris recovered the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), the second black box. The CVR, along with a wire trailing from the aircraft’s rear section, was handed over to the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB). The first black box, called the flight data recorder, was recovered a day after the accident. Besides, human remains were found amid the debris and shifted to the Civil Hospital for postmortem.
Parallelly, a high-level multi-disciplinary committee led by Union home secretary Govind Mohan discussed the possible causes of the crash so as to evolve a policy roadmap for future safeguards.