Air India plane crash: Last rites of body parts of victims performed by Ahmedabad Civil Hospital

Seven families claimed the remains of their loved ones and performed the religious rites themselves while the others requested the hospital administration to carry out the rites on their behalf.

Ahmedabad: The final rites of mortal remains of 19 victims of the June 12 Air India plane crash were performed by the local administration here in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. With this, the government said that the last rites of all human remains which were identified through DNA testing were completed.

“Seven families claimed the remains of their loved ones and performed the religious rites themselves. The remaining families requested the hospital administration to carry out the rites on their behalf,” a government statement said.

The police had recovered a total of 318 bodies and body parts which had been sent for forensic testing.

The final rites of 19 victims were conducted on Tuesday under the supervision of officials from Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, the forensic department, and the local police.

Among them, organs of one Muslim victim was buried in accordance with Islamic traditions, with a cleric reciting verses from the Quran. The remaining 18 Hindu victims were cremated at Vadaj crematorium, and their ashes were later immersed at Naran Ghat in the Sabarmati river.

The government noted that the entire process was carried out “as a mark of respect for the deceased and to support their grieving families during this tragic time.”

Officials said that during the identification process, families had been informed that the ongoing DNA matching of mutilated remains might eventually confirm the identity of their relatives. Once the process concluded, the remains of 26 deceased victims were successfully identified.

The Ahmedabad-London Air India AI 171 flight had crashed moments after take off on June 12 around 1:40 PM, making it one of the worst aviation disasters in recent decades in the country. Boeing's Bombardier aircraft had crashed into the hostel and mess buildings of BJ Medical College at civil hospital in Ahmedabad, killing 241 people onboard while 19 on the ground.

The police had recovered a total of 318 bodies and body parts which had been sent for forensic testing. Subsequently, the government said that a total of 254 were identified through DNA matching while identification of six others were confirmed via facial recognition.