Officials from Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) and US National Transportation Safety Board at the Ahmedabad flight crash spot as part of the probe, on Monday. .
Ahmedabad crash LIVE: Govt-constituted panel meets; wait for families continues
Four days on, grieving families still wait for kin's mortal remains
A high-level multi-disciplinary committee, set up by the government to look into the Ahmedabad plane crash, on Monday (June 16, 2025) deliberated on various possible theories that could have led to the country's worst air disaster in decades.
The panel, chaired by Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, listened to the opinions of various stakeholders about the possible causes of the aircrash and deliberated on steps to be taken to check future occurrences of any such accident, sources said.
In the first meeting of the panel here, the sources said, the focus of the participants was to analyse the possible causes of the aircrash and how to go about in "formulating Standard Operating Procedures for preventing such occurrences in the future".
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with 242 persons on board crashed into a medical college complex in Ahmedabad moments after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at 1.39 pm on June 12.
While 241 persons on board the London-bound aircraft died, one passenger miraculously survived. Besides, 29 persons, including five MBBS students, are reported to have died in the disaster on the ground.
Agonising wait for families
Amid the trauma of losing their loved ones, it is a long wait for the families of several victims of the Air India plane crash as they continue to camp here for four days in the hope of getting the mortal remains of their kin.
They were among the first ones to submit their samples for DNA tests on June 12, the day the horrific incident occurred, so that they could be matched with the deceased. They were asked to wait for 72 hours, but the deadline got over on Sunday and the wait seems endless.
Till Monday afternoon, the Ahmedabad civil hospital authorities said 99 victims have been identified through DNA testing and 64 bodies handed over to the victims.
Health authorities here have asked the distraught family members not to panic, while experts said the DNA samples matching could take time, given the large number of fatalities in the crash.
What kin say
"We visited the DNA collection centre yesterday but were told that our samples were yet to be matched," Pooja Sukhadare, a relative of crew member Roshni Songhare, said.
Sukhadare has been here since the tragedy with the father and brother of Songhare, whose family resides at Dombivli in Maharashtra's Thane district.
Addressing concerns of the grief-stricken families, civil superintendent Dr Rakesh Joshi appealed to them not to panic over the time consuming process of matching the DNA samples of relatives with the remains of the deceased.
What experts say
Attempts to contact Forensic Science Laboratory Director H P Sanghvi did not yield any success.
Rakesh Mishra, former director of the Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, told PTI that DNA matching is not a tedious task but in the case of this accident the number of deceased is large.
Also, it depends on the condition of the tissue. If the body is very charred, they have to look for a bone, extract tissue which is intact or in a better condition.
"More damaged and degraded samples will fetch less data. In this case, some may have been severely damaged, burnt and those will be challenging, but it is doable. Plus, there will be samples of relatives whose DNA has to be isolated," said Mishra, who is now director of the Tata Institute of Genetics and Society in Bengaluru.
He said that in an accident of this magnitude, it can take time due to the condition of the bodies.
Since people sit very closely next to each other in the economy class of an aircraft, in such cases there is a possibility that tissues melt and get mixed up due to extreme heat. In some cases bodies pile up over each other during the rescue work, he said.
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Live Updates
- 16 Jun 2025 10:43 AM IST
Vijay Rupani’s funeral today; what do we know so far
The former chief minister’s family will be handed over his mortal remains at 11 am.
The body will then be flown to Rajkot.
Before the funeral, the body will be kept for public viewing for an hour.
A procession will be taken out at 4 pm.
The event will be attended by senior BJP leaders, including Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP’s Gujarat chief CR Patil, and Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel.
A one-day state mourning has been declared in the state.
- 16 Jun 2025 9:29 AM IST
#WATCH | Ahmedabad, Gujarat: "Maybe we will be able to speak later...We saw what you guys can see...It’s just the same, as you can see from here..," said an expert from the UK who reached the #AirIndiaPlaneCrash site in Ahmedabad to conduct an inspection on 15th June. pic.twitter.com/gyr3F0QHUl
— ANI (@ANI) June 16, 2025 - 16 Jun 2025 9:02 AM IST
#WATCH | Gujarat: Tricolour being brought to the Civil Hospital mortuary in Ahmedabad, to be draped over the mortal remains of former CM Vijay Rupani, who died in #AirIndiaPlaneCrash.
— ANI (@ANI) June 16, 2025
Today, at 11.30 am, his family will receive his mortal remains from the Hospital. The mortal… pic.twitter.com/YsxSz0i36U - 16 Jun 2025 7:58 AM IST
Govt constituted high-level committee to meet first time today
The first meeting of the high-level multi-disciplinary committee set up by the government to look into the Ahmedabad plane crash will be held on Monday in Delhi.
The panel, chaired by the home secretary, is expected to submit its report in three months.
The committee will have its first meeting on Monday afternoon, the sources told PTI.
The committee is expected to focus on "formulating Standard Operating Procedures for preventing such occurrences in the future".
A separate investigation is also being carried out by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), which is looking into the technical aspects of the crash.
Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu on Saturday said while the AAIB investigation will handle the technical aspects, the high-level committee will provide a holistic, policy-oriented roadmap for future safeguards.
- 16 Jun 2025 7:57 AM IST
Filmmaker missing since plane crash; kin fear he may be a victim, give DNA samples
The family of a filmmaker have submitted DNA samples after he went missing on Thursday and his mobile phone location was last traced to just 700 metres away from the horrific Air India plane crash.
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, killing 241 out of 242 on board as well as 29 on the ground.
Naroda-resident Mahesh Kalawadia, also known as Mahesh Jirawala, directs music albums and went to meet someone at Law Garden area that afternoon, his wife Hetal said.
"My husband called me at 1.14pm 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. After police was intimated, the last location of his mobile phone showed he was 700 metres away from the crash site," she said.
"His phone got switched off around 1:40pm (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. We have submitted DNA samples to check if he was one of those killed on the ground due to the crash," Hetal added.
Since 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.
- 16 Jun 2025 7:55 AM IST
Sikkim BJP organises candlelight vigil in memory of Ahmedabad plane crash victims
The Sikkim unit of the BJP organised a candlelight vigil at M G Marg here on Sunday evening to honour the memory of the victims of the Ahmedabad plane crash.
All but one of the 242 passengers of the London-bound Air India flight (AI171) and 29 people on the ground, including five MBBS students, were killed when the plane crashed into the campus of a medical college moments after taking off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad on June 12.
Sikkim BJP media in-charge Niren Bhandari said that the vigil was a poignant display of unity and remembrance. The participants observed a moment of silence for the departed souls.
In a gesture of solidarity, tourists from Ahmedabad visiting Sikkim joined the local community in the vigil, standing shoulder-to-shoulder in prayer and mourning.
Bhandari said that the Sikkim unit of the BJP expresses its deepest condolences to the families of the victims and prays for peace for the departed and strength for those left behind.
- 16 Jun 2025 7:54 AM IST
DNA tests identify 80 victims including ex-CM Rupani; 33 bodies handed over to kin
Three days after the tragic crash of Air India flight AI-171 in Ahmedabad, which has so far claimed 270 lives, hospital authorities confirmed on Sunday the identification of 80 victims through DNA matching, including that of former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.
Authorities have handed over 33 bodies to the victims’ families, officials said on Sunday.
Rupani was among the 242 passengers and crew members on board the London-bound Air India flight AI-171 that crashed on Thursday.
The Gujarat government has announced a state mourning for Rupani on Monday. His funeral procession will be held in Rajkot in the evening.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed into a medical college complex moments after taking off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at 1:39 PM on Thursday. So far 29 people are reported to have died in the disaster on the ground which includes five MBBS students. Only one person from the aircraft miraculously survived.
"A total of 80 plane crash victims have been identified so far through DNA matching. Of these, the bodies of 33 victims have been handed over to their respective families," Additional Civil Superintendent Dr. Rajnish Patel told reporters.
The victims whose mortal remains were handed over were from Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Kheda, Botad and other places.
