PM Modi visits Air India plane crash site, meets injured victims at Ahmedabad hospital

Modi spent around 20 minutes inspecting the site, where the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft (AI171) crashed into a complex of B J Medical College in the Meghaninagar area shortly after taking off on Thursday afternoon.

Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday visited the site of the Air India plane crash, in which 265 people lost their lives, and met the injured at the civil hospital in Ahmedabad.

A day after the deadly plane crash in the city, the bodies of six victims were handed over to their families after identification on Friday, police said. 

In case of the other bodies, which are partially or fully charred, it will take around 72 hours to complete the exercise of matching their DNA samples, police said. Modi arrived at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Airport in the morning and drove straight to the plane crash site, officials said.

He spent around 20 minutes inspecting the site, where the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft (AI171) crashed into a complex of B J Medical College in the Meghaninagar area shortly after taking off on Thursday afternoon. Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu and Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi informed the prime minister about how the plane crashed into the college hostel and mess. 

Modi later visited the city civil hospital, where he spoke to Vishwas Kumar Ramesh, the lone plane survivor of the tragedy and also met other persons injured in the accident. The PM visited the C7 ward of the hospital, where 25 injured people are undergoing treatment, and interacted with the doctors. Modi met state and civil aviation officers at the GujSail office near the Ahmedabad airport and was briefed on the tragedy. The London-bound aircraft with 242 people on board, including former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, crashed moments after taking off. 

Of the 265 bodies brought to the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital for post-mortem on Thursday, six victims were identified so far as their faces were intact, police inspector Chirag Gosai said. He said DNA profiling is underway to ascertain the identities of others as their bodies are charred beyond recognition.

"We have handed over the six bodies to the relatives. We have started the process of collecting DNA samples of relatives for profiling to identify bodies that are charred beyond recognition,” Gosai said. “Relatives of 215 deceased persons have approached us to give their samples," he said.

The details are gathered from relatives arriving at the post-mortem room, and the kin are then sent to BJ Medical College to provide their DNA samples, he added. "It will take nearly 72 hours to complete the exercise of matching the DNA samples. Once there is a match, bodies will be handed over to relatives from the post-mortem room," Gosai said.

A Boeing 787 Dreamliner (AI 171), with 242 people on board, including former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, crashed into a medical college complex in the Meghaninagar area moments after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport. Bhumi Chauhan, a UK-based woman visiting India, thanked God and her stars for missing the ill-fated Air India plane as she got stuck in heavy traffic and reached the airport late. Chauhan said she missed boarding the plane by just 10 minutes.

"I am shivering after I learnt about the crash. I left the airport at 1.30 pm as I missed the flight due to traffic. I thank God," said Chauhan, who was in India for vacation. At least nine crew members on board, including both the pilots, hailed from Maharashtra, an official said. He said the aircraft's pilot, Captain Sumeet Pushkaraj Sabharwal (56), was a resident of Jal Vayu Vihar in the Powai area of Mumbai and lived with his elderly parents.

The co-pilot of the flight, Clive Kunder, was a resident of the western suburbs of Mumbai, as per his social media account. Cabin crew member Deepak Pathak lived in Badlapur in neighbouring Thane district. Pathak's sister had earlier said he spoke to his mother before leaving for London. He had been working with Air India for 11 years, she said. Another crew member, Maithili Patil (23), was a resident of Nhava village in Navi Mumbai. Patil joined Air India two years ago, and her father, Moreshwar Patil, is a labour contractor with ONGC.

Patil had spoken to her father before her flight to London and promised to call him once she reached the city, a former sarpanch of Nhava said. Aparna Mahadik (43), another crew member, was a resident of Goregaon in the western suburbs, and her husband also works with Air India as a crew member. She was a relative of NCP leader Sunil Tatkare. Roshni Rajendra Songhare and Saineeta Chakravarti, both crew members, hailed from Dombivli and Juhu Koliwada, respectively. Songhare was also a travel influencer with more than 54,000 followers on Instagram.

The victims also included Mahadev Pawar (68) and his wife Asha (60), who hailed from Hatid village in Sangola of Maharashtra's Solapur district. The Pawars had left Sangola and settled in Gujarat 15 years ago, and they were heading to London to visit their son. One of the passengers, Yasha Kamdar Modha (32), was the daughter of Nagpur businessman Manish Kamdar. She was travelling to London with her son Rudra and mother-in-law Rakshaben, and all three perished in the crash.