Air India plane crash | Canteen worker's hopes dashed, no second miracle as remains of kin found

Ahmedabad: Ravi Thakor had been hoping his mother and two-year old daughter had escaped just before an Air India jet crashed into the building they were in.

A week after one of the world's worst aviation disasters killed more than 270 people in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, Thakor's hopes were dashed when doctors matched his DNA on Wednesday with the remains of his mother Sarla and daughter Aadhya.

A canteen worker in a college hostel, Thakor and other family members had left the hostel around 30 minutes before Air India's Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft crashed into the building. Sarla had stayed back, cooking and looking after Aadhya, who was asleep. Thakor and his wife Lalita searched for them in hospitals and the morgue after the crash. After not finding them for days, they said they were hoping for a "second miracle", referring to the lone passenger aboard the plane who survived the disaster.

On Thursday, the dead bodies were handed over to Thakor's family for the final rites.

"We are going to cremate my mother and daughter. It is very difficult for me to say anything right now, but at least we know what happened to them," Thakor said, struggling to speak.

At least 211 DNA samples had been matched, and 189 dead bodies handed over to families, Rakesh Joshi, the medical superintendent at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital told reporters on Thursday.

The dead included 241 people on board the plane and at least 30 on the ground.