DNA tests identify 47 victims of Ahmedabad plane crash

With bodies burnt beyond recognition or damaged otherwise, authorities are carrying out DNA tests to establish the identity of victims of the horrific tragedy.

Three days after a London-bound Air India plane crashed in Ahmedabad, authorities here have so far identified 47 victims through DNA testing and bodies of 24 have been handed over to their families, an official said on Sunday. 

300 ambulances were parked near the mortuary in the Civil Hospital for transport of the Air India plane crash victims' bodies to their hometowns. Ahmedabad(Raju Shinde/HT Photo)

As many of the bodies were burnt beyond recognition or damaged otherwise, authorities are carrying out DNA tests to establish the identity of victims of the horrific tragedy. 

"A total of 47 plane crash victims have been identified so far through DNA matching. Of these, bodies of 24 victims have been handed over to the respective families. These deceased were from Rajasthan and different parts of Gujarat," Additional Civil Superintendent Dr Rajnish Patel told reporters. 

All but one of the 242 passengers and crew on board the Boeing 787-8 (AI171) and another 29 persons, including five MBBS students, on the ground were killed in the plane crash on Thursday. 

The aircraft crashed into the campus of a medical college in Meghaninagar moments after taking off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at 1:39pm on Thursday.