AHMEDABAD: In an echoing hall in India’s Ahmedabad, mourning families gave DNA samples on Friday to identify relatives missing after a London-bound passenger jet crashed in a residential area.
At least 265 people on board and on the ground were killed when the Air India 787-8 Dreamliner smashed into a residential area soon after takeoff on Thursday. Just one passenger miraculously survived the giant fireball.
Ashfaque Nanabawa, 40, said he had come to find his cousin Akeel Nanabawa, who had been onboard with his wife and three-year-old daughter.
He said they had spoken as his cousin sat in the plane just before takeoff.
“He called us and he said: ‘I am in the plane and I have boarded safely and everything was okay’. That was his last call.”
Nanabawa, speaking in the early hours of Friday morning, said he and his family had given DNA samples, but were yet to “identify any of the bodies”.
- ‘Heartbreaking’ -
Indian police said at least 265 bodies had been recovered from the smouldering crash site -- both from the wreckage of the plane and the medical staff accommodation into which the burning jet crashed.
The toll may rise further as more bodies are located.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called the crash “heartbreaking beyond words”.
India’s Home Minister Amit Shah, who visited the crash site and those injured in hospital on Thursday evening, said forensic laboratories would “complete the DNA testing in the shortest possible time”.
Shah said the final official toll would “be declared only after DNA testing is completed”.
On a raised platform, a dozen exhausted doctors worked to collect samples for the grim task of trying to identify bodies.
“We have taken samples of babies and those above 80 years old. I don’t have words to explain this,“ said a doctor, on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese, and a Canadian on board the flight bound for London’s Gatwick airport, as well as 12 crew members, making 242 onboard.
Only one is confirmed to have survived, a British national.
At least 24 people also died on the ground when the jet hit residential buildings.
“As doctors, you’re always prepared for the worst right?” the medic added.
“But this is just overwhelming. Families are crying, looking for answers.”
Above, the sounds of planes echoed, with the hall close to another airport.
“One person came to give the sample... his child, wife and mother were on the flight”, the doctor added. “What do I even say?”
One woman, too grief-stricken to give her name, said her son-in-law had been killed.
“My daughter doesn’t know that he’s no more”, she said, wiping away tears.
“I can’t break the news to her, can someone else do that please?”
- ‘Unimaginable’ -
Friends also arrived in a desperate search for news.
Premal Mehta, 39, from Ahmedabad, said he did not want to believe his friend Mahesh Jeerawala had been killed.
“I am using everything in my power, political contacts, whatever it is, to find him”, he said in desperation, as he supported his friend’s brother, who was providing a DNA sample.
Others had flown in seeking news, or to identify the dead.
Ismail Sheikh said he had celebrated only days before with his friend, a London resident who had returned to see family in India.
His friend was onboard with his wife and two children.
Sheikh recalled taking his friend to the airport 15 years ago, when he moved to London with high hopes for the future.
“Now I am here,“ Sheikh said, his eyes wet with tears. “This is unimaginable”.
