19 identified through DNA tests: Minister
The identities of 19 of the 241 passengers who died on the AI 171 Dreamliner on June 12, were confirmed by matching DNA samples by Saturday afternoon, 48 hours after the crash. Of these, the body of Poornima Patel from Dakor in Kheda district was handed over to the family members and has been cremated.
Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi said on X that until 9 pm Saturday, 19 DNA samples have been matched so far, confirming the identities of victims.
'State Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) unit team and National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) team are working through the night to match more DNA samples,' he said in the post.
The samples which matched also include that of Kalpana Prajapati and Alysia Makwana, a British national from Vadodara.
The other bodies identified are of passengers from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat, the source said.
'Both bodies will be sent to Vadodara on Sunday morning for the last rites to be conducted by the families,' Hemang Joshi, Vadodara MP, told The Indian Express.
To avoid chaos and distress to the next of kin, the Gujarat government has requested family members residing abroad to plan their arrival after sending their DNA report , a top source in the government told The Indian Express.
'We have requested the foreign nationals who have not yet arrived in Ahmedabad to send their DNA profile reports from wherever they are, as a reference sample, and we will then cross verify with the DNA profile of the sample extracted from the victim here and then they can come and collect the body, on a stipulated date. They will be given all the documents in a proper file for any future reference,' the source said.
There are at least 21 samples expected to be taken from foreign nationals whose family members died in the AI 171 crash on June 12.
Kheda District Collector Amit Prakash Yadav told The Indian Express, 'The mortal remains of Purnima Patel, one of the crash victims arrived in her hometown in Dakor in Kheda district on Saturday evening and the cremation was done with full rituals by the Swaminarayan community, which the family belongs to. The Gujarat government supported the community in arranging the final rites.' Patel was travelling to London to meet her son.
Yadav said that relatives of one crash victim from Kheda, a Canadian national, Piyush Patel (29), are on their way to submit the DNA samples. Yadav said, 'Piyush Patel's Canada-based wife and 7-year-old daughter are arriving in India to submit the daughter's sample for identification of the body.
An expert on DNA forensics and retired IPS officer Keshav Kumar said that in cases such as the Air India crash where bodies are severely charred, the DNA extracted from the molar tooth of the victim, is the best bet to match with the reference sample.
Kumar, who is consultant to the Home and Political Affairs department of the Government of Assam, recalls Rajkot's TRP game zone fire on May 25 last year which left 27 dead. 'Some parents had come to us saying our child is missing and we had used the RapidHIT technology to match DNA within 90 minutes from reference samples and exhibits'.
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