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Indian Express
09-07-2025
- Indian Express
Ahmedabad air crash: Gujarat govt conducts last rites of remains of 19 bodies
The Gujarat government, 26 days after the fatal Air India AI 171 flight crash in Ahmedabad, conducted the final rites of the remaining parts of the victims' bodies on Tuesday. These remains were either identified after most parts of the bodies had been handed over to the families, or were found later. A total of 26 remains of bodies were found or identified after families of the 260 deceased, who were on board the flight on June 12, were handed over their bodies over the past month. While only seven families collected the remains for the second time, after the initial handover, 19 families gave their consent to the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital for the final rites, to be carried out as per protocol. The last rites were held in the presence of the hospital's superintendent, HOD of Forensic Medicine, medical officer, resident doctors, and Class-4 staff, under the supervision of DCP (Zone-4) Kanan Desai and other police officers. The hospital, while collecting DNA samples from the relatives of the deceased for identification of the bodies, had informed the families that more portions of the bodies could be found in the future, a statement by the health department pointed out. After the remains of the bodies of a total of 26 deceased were found later, their families were contacted. 'Seven families took the remains of their relatives for religious rites. The remaining families asked the hospital administration to perform the religious rites on their behalf. Therefore, the last rites of a total of 19 human organs were performed by the government administration,' said the statement. While one of the remains was buried as it belonged to a victim who was from the Muslim community, last rites for 18 remains were performed as per Hindu rituals and the ashes were immersed in the Sabarmati.
Daily Tribune
14-06-2025
- General
- Daily Tribune
Investigators begin probe after London-bound Dreamliner kills 265 on ground and aboard
Investigators recovered a black box recorder from the crash site yesterday of a London-bound passenger jet that ploughed into a residential area of India's Ahmedabad city, killing at least 265 people on board and on the ground. The Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner issued a mayday call shortly before it crashed around lunchtime on Thursday after lifting barely 100 metres (330 feet) from the ground. One man on board the plane, which was carrying 242 passengers and crew, miraculously survived Thursday's fiery crash, which left the tailpiece of the aircraft jutting out of the second floor of a hostel for medical staff from a nearby hospital. The nose and front wheel of Air India flight 171 landed on a canteen building where students were having lunch, witnesses said. Deputy Commissioner of Police Kanan Desai said that 265 bodies had been counted so far, which suggested that at least 24 people were killed on the ground. The toll could rise further as more body parts are recovered. 'The official number of deceased will be declared only after DNA testing is completed', Home Minister Amit Shah said in a statement late on Thursday. DNA samples will be taken from family members of the dead who live abroad, he said. 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. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the devastated neighbourhood yesterday and was also pictured by survivor Ramesh's bedside. 'Last call' In Ahmedabad, disconsolate relatives of passengers gathered at an emergency centre yesterday to give DNA samples so their loved ones could be identified. Ashfaque Nanabawa, 40, said he had come to find his cousin Akeel Nanabawa, who had been aboard with his wife and threeyear-old daughter. 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.' Volunteer rescuers described seeing 'bodies everywhere'. 'The bodies were totally burnt. It was like coal,' said Bharat Solanki, 51, who was working at a nearby fuel station and rushed to the site with a couple of friends. Ahmedabad, the main city in India's Gujarat state, is home to around eight million people and its busy airport is surrounded by densely packed residential areas. 'One half of the plane crashed into the residential building where doctors lived with their families,' said Krishna, a doctor who did not give his full name. US planemaker Boeing said it was in touch with Air India and stood 'ready to support them' over the incident, which a source close to the case said was the first crash for a 787 Dreamliner. The UK and US air accident investigation agencies announced they were sending teams to support their Indian counterparts. Tata Group, Air India's owners, offered financial aid of 10 million rupees ($117,000) to 'the families of each person who has lost their life in this tragedy', as well as funds to cover medical expenses of those injured. Experts said it was too early to speculate on what may have caused Thursday's crash. 'It is very unlikely that the plane was overweight or carrying too much fuel,' said Jason Knight, senior lecturer in fluid mechanics at the University of Portsmouth. 'The aircraft is designed to be able to fly on one engine, so the most likely cause of the crash is a double engine failure. The most likely cause of a double engine failure is a bird strike.'
Mint
14-06-2025
- Politics
- Mint
Air India plane crash: Centre to brief media at 1:30 pm, officials inspect wreckage of London-bound flight
The Centre is likely to hold a press conference regarding the Air India plane crash incident for the first time after the tragedy killed over 200 people on Thursday. While reports claim that there has been an increase in the number of deaths, the Centre said a 'high-level multi-disciplinary Committee' was constituted for examining the causes leading to the crash of the Air India flight. The Air India flight AI-171 - Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 aeroplane - bound for London's Gatwick crashed shortly after it took off from the Ahmedabad International Airport on Thursday, June 12. The plane crashed into a resident doctors' hostel building. The airline said only one out of the 242 people on board the aircraft survived the crash. 1. Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu will chair a high-level meeting on air safety on Saturday. The meeting was scheduled to take place at 10:30 am in the ministry office. The meeting was to be attended by the Civil Aviation Secretary, the Director General of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials, and other senior ministry officials. 2. Ram Mohan Naidu may also address the media at 1.30 pm on Saturday, two days after the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad claimed over 240 lives. 3. Several reports cited police sources as saying that deaths in the Air India plane crash has increased to over 260 from 241 earlier. Sources told NDTV that at least 274 people were killed. Meanwhile, news agency AFP cited Deputy Commissioner of Police Kanan Desai as saying that 265 bodies had been counted so far, which suggested that at least 24 people were killed on the ground. An official conformation on these reports are awaited. 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. 4. Samples from over 250 people have already been collected in the massive identification effort. The victims' identification relies entirely on DNA results, as the bodies were charred beyond recognition, news agency ANI reported. 5. Air India parent Tata Group will pay ₹ 1 crore to the families of persons killed in the Ahmedabad plane crash, besides covering the medical expenses of those injured, the carrier's MD and CEO Campbell Wilson said on Friday. In a message shared on the official handle of Air India on X, Campbell announced that the Tata Group, "our parent company, has announced that they will provide ₹ 1 crore or approximately 85,000 British pounds, to the families of each person who lost their life and will cover the medical expenses of those injured". 6. Earlier, the government constituted a high-level multi-disciplinary committee for examining the causes leading to the crash of Air India Flight AI-171 from Ahmedabad to Gatwick Airport (London) on June 12. An order stated that the committee will be headed by the Home Secretary and will include representatives from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Indian Air Force and Aviation experts. "The Committee will examine the existing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and guidelines issued to prevent and handle such occurrences and suggest comprehensive guidelines for dealing with such instances in the future," an order issued by the Civil Aviation Ministry read. 7. Teams of National Security Guard (NSG), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Air Force, Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Fire rescue forces, Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Central Industrial Security Forces (CISF) inspected the wreckage of the ill-fated London-bound Air India 171 flight on Saturday. 8. Investigators recovered a black box recorder on June 13 from the crash site of a London-bound passenger jet that ploughed into a residential area of Ahmedabad. 9. Speaking to ANI, Rekha Kshtriya, a woman who has lived in the area for over 13 years, said she was doing her usual chores when she first heard a loud noise. She immediately came outside and rushed to the crash site. "... Around 1.30 PM, we heard a loud noise. Although we are accustomed to hearing loud noises, this time, it felt like our eardrums would burst. It seemed like an earthquake. Our house, our dining table, everything was shaking violently. The sound seemed like that of a bomb blast. Then we went outside and learned a plane had crashed... We saw broken pieces of the aircraft spread everywhere. The whole sky was filled with black smoke. High flames were rising everywhere," she told ANI. 10. Meanwhile, the Indian Medical Association, Gujarat State Branch wrote to the Chairman of Tata Sons, requesting support for injured and deceased Medical Students at the BJ Medical College, Ahmedabad. "We humbly request you to consider extending financial assistance & necessary support to the medical students present at the crash site who were injured or lost their lives in this unfortunate event," read the letter.
The Star
14-06-2025
- General
- The Star
Rescue teams race against time
A man mourning the death of his 14-year-old brother, who was sleeping on the ground when the plane crashed. — AFP Rescue teams with sniffer dogs combed the crash site of the London-bound passenger jet which ploughed into a residential area of Ahmedabad city, killing at least 265 people on board and on the ground. One man aboard the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner – carrying 242 passengers and crew – miraculously survived the fiery crash, which left the tailpiece of the aircraft jutting out of the second floor of a hostel for medical staff from a nearby hospital. The nose and front wheel landed on a canteen building where students were having lunch, witnesses said. Deputy Commissioner of Police Kanan Desai said that 265 bodies had so far been counted – suggesting at least 24 people died on the ground – but the toll may rise as more body parts are recovered. 'The official number of deceased will be declared only after DNA testing is completed', Home Minister Amit Shah said in a statement, adding that 'families whose relatives are abroad have already been informed, and their DNA samples will be taken'. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also visited the devastated neighbourhood where Air India flight 171 went down. The airline 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. Combing through: Rescue officials carrying a victim's body at the site where Air India Flight 171 crashed in Ahmedabad. — AFP In Ahmedabad, disconsolate relatives of passengers gathered yesterday at an emergency centre to give DNA samples so their loved ones could be identified. Ashfaque Nanabawa, 40, said he had come to find his cousin Akeel Nanabawa, who had been aboard with his wife and three-year-old daughter. 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 is okay.' That was his last call.' 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?' The plane crashed less than a minute after takeoff at around lunchtime on Thursday, after lifting barely 100m from the ground. The plane issued a mayday call and 'crashed immediately after takeoff,' the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said. Ahmedabad is home to around eight million people and its busy airport is surrounded by densely packed residential areas. 'One half of the plane crashed into the residential building where doctors lived with their families,' said Krishna, a doctor who did not give his full name. US planemaker Boeing said it was in touch with Air India and stood 'ready to support them' over the incident, which a source close to the case said was the first crash for a 787 Dreamliner. The UK and US air accident investigation agencies announced that they were dispatching teams to support their Indian counterparts. Tata Group, owners of Air India, offered financial aid of 10 million rupees (RM494,000) to 'the families of each person who has lost their life in this tragedy', as well as funds to cover medical expenses of those injured. Experts said it was too early to speculate on what may have caused Thursday's crash. 'It is very unlikely that the plane was overweight or carrying too much fuel,' said Jason Knight, a senior lecturer in fluid mechanics at the University of Portsmouth. 'The aircraft is designed to be able to fly on one engine, so the most likely cause of the crash is a double engine failure. 'The most likely cause of a double engine failure is a bird strike.' India's airline industry has boomed in recent years with Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (Iata), last month calling it 'nothing short of phenomenal'. The growth of its economy has made India and its 1.4 billion people the world's fourth-largest air market – domestic and international – with Iata projecting it will become the third biggest within the decade. — AFP
The Star
13-06-2025
- General
- The Star
Rescue teams comb site of Air India crash that killed at least 265
AHMEDABAD, India (AFP): Rescue teams with sniffer dogs combed the crash site Friday of a London-bound passenger jet which ploughed into a residential area of India's Ahmedabad city, killing at least 265 people on board and on the ground. One man aboard the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner -- carrying 242 passengers and crew -- miraculously survived Thursday's fiery crash, which left the tailpiece of the aircraft jutting out of the second floor of a hostel for medical staff from a nearby hospital. The nose and front wheel landed on a canteen building where students were having lunch, witnesses said. Deputy Commissioner of Police Kanan Desai said that 265 bodies had so far been counted -- suggesting at least 24 people died on the ground -- but the toll may rise as more body parts are recovered. "The official number of deceased will be declared only after DNA testing is completed", Home Minister Amit Shah said in a statement late Thursday, adding that "families whose relatives are abroad have already been informed, and their DNA samples will be taken". Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who on Friday visited the devastated neighbourhood where Air India flight 171 went down, earlier described the crash as "heartbreaking beyond words". The airline 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. Air India said the sole survivor from the plane -- a British national of Indian origin who local media named as Vishwash Kumar Ramesh -- was being treated in hospital. "He said, 'I have no idea how I exited the plane'", his brother Nayan Kumar Ramesh, 27, told Britain's Press Association in Leicester. - 'Last call - In Ahmedabad, disconsolate relatives of passengers gathered Friday at an emergency centre to give DNA samples so their loved ones could be identified. Ashfaque Nanabawa, 40, said he had come to find his cousin Akeel Nanabawa, who had been aboard with his wife and three-year-old daughter. 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." 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?" The plane crashed less than a minute after takeoff, around lunchtime Thursday, after lifting barely 100 metres from the ground. The plane issued a mayday call and "crashed immediately after takeoff", the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said. Ahmedabad, the main city in India's Gujarat state, is home to around eight million people and its busy airport is surrounded by densely packed residential areas. "One half of the plane crashed into the residential building where doctors lived with their families," said Krishna, a doctor who did not give his full name. US planemaker Boeing said it was in touch with Air India and stood "ready to support them" over the incident, which a source close to the case said was the first crash for a 787 Dreamliner. The UK and US air accident investigation agencies announced they were dispatching teams to support their Indian counterparts. Tata Group, owners of Air India, offered financial aid of 10 million rupees ($117,000) to "the families of each person who has lost their life in this tragedy", as well as funds to cover medical expenses of those injured. - Rapid growth - India has suffered a series of fatal air crashes, including a 1996 disaster when two jets collided mid-air over New Delhi, killing nearly 350 people. In 2010, an Air India Express jet crashed and burst into flames at Mangalore airport in southwest India, killing 158 of the 166 passengers and crew on board. Experts said it was too early to speculate on what may have caused Thursday's crash. "It is very unlikely that the plane was overweight or carrying too much fuel," said Jason Knight, senior lecturer in fluid mechanics at the University of Portsmouth. "The aircraft is designed to be able to fly on one engine, so the most likely cause of the crash is a double engine failure. The most likely cause of a double engine failure is a bird strike." India's airline industry has boomed in recent years with Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), last month calling it "nothing short of phenomenal". The growth of its economy has made India and its 1.4 billion people the world's fourth-largest air market -- domestic and international -- with IATA projecting it will become the third biggest within the decade. - AFP
