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Ahmedabad filmmaker missing, feared dead in plane crash; was neither onboard nor in hostel
Mahesh Jirawals's family has submitted DNA samples to help authorities identify whether he was among the ground victims.
A local filmmaker has been reported missing since the Air India plane crash in Gujarat's Ahmedabad, with his family fearing he may be among those killed on the ground. Although he was not among the 242 passengers on board the ill-fated flight, his mobile phone location was last traced to within 700 metres of the crash site, and he has not been seen since.
Mahesh Kalawadia, also known as Mahesh Jirawala, a resident of Naroda who directed music albums, went missing shortly after the London-bound flight crashed into the campus of a medical college in Meghaninagar on June 12, according to news agency PTI. The crash killed 241 passengers and crew and 29 people on the ground.
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Family submits DNA sample in hope of identification
His wife, Hetal Kalawadia, said her husband had called her around 1:14 pm that day to inform her that a meeting in the Law Garden area had ended and he was heading home. However, he never returned.
"My husband called me at 1.14 pm to tell me his meeting is over and that he is on his way home. However, when he did not return, I called up on his phone but it was switched off," Hetal said.
The family has submitted DNA samples to help authorities identify whether he was among the ground victims.
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She added that police traced the last location of his phone to an area just 700 metres from the accident site. "His phone got switched off around 1.40 pm (a minute after the ill-fated flight took off). His scooter and mobile phone are missing. All this is unusual since he would never use that route (as per the last location) to come home," she said.
Authorities have confirmed that several bodies from the crash site were severely charred or disfigured, making identification difficult.
DNA testing is being used to identify the deceased. As of Sunday, 47 victims had been identified through DNA matching.
(With PTI inputs)
