Man collects 70 tolas of gold jewellery, cash from plane crash site; hands them over to police

The Hindu

18-06-2025

Rajesh Patel, who was among the first responders following the Ahmedabad plane crash on June 12, returned to the scene soon after carrying bodies and many injured to ambulances. He began rummaging through the smouldering wreckage.
Mr. Patel, 57, said he collected nearly 70 tolas of gold ornaments, which would be priceless for the victims' kin, ₹50,000 and a few U.S. dollars from the scene of the deadly aviation tragedy and handed them over to the police.
As he heard a deafening sound and saw a giant ball of fire rising into the sky, Mr. Patel, who lives just 300 metres from the scene of the accident, hopped into an ambulance of a private hospital run by his relative in the city's Shahibaug area.
'Upon learning that an aircraft had crashed into a hostel complex of BJ Medical College, I rushed to the area with the hope of saving as many people as I could. However, we could not get close to the spot for the first 15 to 20 minutes. We started the rescue work after the fire was brought under control,' said Mr. Patel, who is in the construction business.
Since Mr. Patel and the other volunteers did not have any stretchers, they used old sarees, bedsheets, and gunny sacks to carry bodies as well as injured persons to the ambulances, he said.
After finishing the rescue work, Patel turned to salvaging luggage and other belongings of those on board the ill-fated Air India plane.
'From 10 to 15 handbags, which were burnt and lying scattered, we recovered 70 tolas of gold jewellery, 8 to 10 silver articles, a few passports, a copy of Bhagavad Gita, ₹50,000 cash and 20 dollars. We handed them over to a police official supervising the rescue operation,' said Mr. Patel.
Mr. Patel, who earlier worked as a photographer, had volunteered at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital after the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts. He lost two of his close friends in one of the explosions that took place inside the trauma centre of the hospital.
According to inspector D.B. Basiya from the Meghaninagar police station, one of their teams has been tasked with preparing a detailed list of every valuable article as well as luggage recovered from the crash site.
'Once the list is compiled, we will coordinate with Air India and start the process to hand over the valuables and luggage to the kin of the passengers after verification. We don't have any specific number of articles or their value as of now,' said Mr. Basiya.
Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi had announced on X on June 16 that every item found from the aircraft's wreckage would be returned.
He had also shared a video showing the kin of a woman, who died in the crash, receiving gold ornaments recovered from her body from a police official.
'Air India Passengers: Each and Every Found Item Will Be Returned. After the Air India plane crash, the Ahmedabad City Police went above and beyond to ensure the deceased's family received their loved one's belongings,' Mr. Sanghavi had said in his post.
'Gold ornament weighing 4-5 tolas, worth around ₹4.5 lakh, recovered from Veenaben Agheda's body was meticulously tracked down and returned to her family. The family praised the police for their honest work, expressing gratitude for their dedication to service,' the Minister had added.
A Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner of Air India with 242 persons on board crashed into the B.J. Medical College complex in Ahmedabad moments after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at 1.39 pm on June 12.
While 241 persons on board the London-bound aircraft died, one passenger miraculously survived. The crash also killed 29 persons on the ground, including five MBBS students.