Doctors work tirelessly to identify charred remains; families share heartbreaking stories of loss, with some facing multiple tragedies after June 12 plane crash
“I'm his father. I was supposed to die before him.” sobbed Rashid Patel, 72. Patel lost his only son, Sahil, to the Ahmedabad air crash that killed over 270 people last week. When he received Sahil's body, he had a simple wish — to open the coffin and see his son's face one last time. Even that, for many, was not fated to be.
An eerie silence has fallen over the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital now. For the past six days, following the crash of the Air India plane on June 12, bodies have arrived in droves at the hospital's morgue, filling the atmosphere with grief, anger and helplessness.
In a matter of hours, the 66-bed capacity morgue of the Civil Hospital in Asarwa, Ahmedabad reached its capacity, forcing hospital authorities to transfer the bodies to the cold storage of the Civil Hospital in Sola and VS Hospital in Ahmedabad.
Then began the herculean task of identifying the bodies through DNA testing.
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Over capacity
“A team of 140 doctors from four districts rushed to perform post-mortems as the bodies kept coming in," Dr Mahesh Kapadiya, who heads the post-mortem process at the Civil Hospital, told The Federal.
"The process started from 4.30 pm on June 12 and continued nonstop till 5 pm on June 13. Within 12 hours, the post-mortems of most of the bodies were completed and DNA samples handed over to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Gandhinagar,” he added.
For many doctors, the Air India crash reminded them of the urgency of the serial blast of 2008, the earthquake of 2002 and the first wave of the COVID -19 crisis.
“The work load was unprecedented. Even though most of the doctors on the team are highly experienced, nobody had seen such high number of casualties at one incident. The bodies had to be kept at Civil Hospital, Sola, Civil Hospital Gandhinagar, district hospitals and neighboring districts such as Kheda, Anand and Mehsana.
"When the district hospitals ran out of space, we used the primary and community health centers across Ahmedabad district. This is the reason we had to race against time as not all bodies were in cold storage,” added Kapadiya, who conducted over 18,000 post-mortems in his 20-year career.
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Endless work
For many doctors, the Air India crash reminded them of the urgency of the serial blast of 2008, the earthquake of 2002 and the first wave of the COVID -19 crisis.
A doctor of the Civil Hospital who was going home after four days of continuous work said, “I was posted in Vadodara and was called in at the Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad during the serial blasts of 2008. We handled around 60 bodies a day back then. Then too we had worked nonstop."
Around 10 km from the Civil Hospital, the scene at the FSL in Gandhinagar is similar, with doctors working since June 13 to identify the bodies through DNA testing.
Charred bodies, and more
HP Sanghvi, Director of FSL, told The Federal: “If this had happened 10 years ago, it would take five to ten days to identify each body. But thankfully, we have modern equipment now that enables us to finish the process in 72 hours."
Akash, 13, went home to bring lunch for his father, when a part of the aircraft fell on their house, instantly setting it ablaze. His mother heard his scream and rushed to save him, but failed. She still remains critical in the ICU, unaware that her son is dead.
The team worked almost non-stop from June 13 to June 18, said Sanghvi. It identified 164 bodies through DNA sampling and testing, after collecting samples from the nearest kin available, he added.
However, the extraction of DNA samples from victims' charred bodies was very difficult, especially as some bodies came in pieces. In around 10 cases, tests had to be redone as the extracted DNA did not pass the quality tests.
Also read: Chaos at Ahmedabad morgue as staff struggles to address issues | Exclusive
Bodies poured in, so did families
While doctors worked to identify the victims, more bodies kept coming in till June 14, when the tail of the aircraft was cut open at the crash site in Meghaninagar.
Meanwhile, at the Civil Hospital, families kept pouring in from across the world. The smell of burnt bodies constantly emanating from the post-mortem room did not deter them.
About 100 metres from the post-mortem room, a tent was built where families waited with bated breath, their gazes fixed on the entrance. Every time an ambulance arrived, the mood changed. Everyone rushed at once toward the front of the tent, hoping to get one last look at their loved ones.
Ramniben sat quietly at the door step of the temple inside the premises of the hospital. “My mother is still missing,” she told The Federal, eyes welling with tears.
Her mother was the cook for the hostel of the BJ Medical college where the front portion of the aircraft struck, destroying the building and killing eight including doctors.
A village in tears
The process of handing over the victims' bodies from the mortuary of the Civil Hospital began on the evening of June 14.
The same day, the body of 22-year-old Payal Khatik was handed over to her father Suresh Khatik. He hugged the coffin to his chest, repeatedly saying, “beta, wapis avija (daughter, please come back).”
Payel Khatik with her family
It was Payel's first-ever flight. She was the first from her village to travel abroad.
Payel was going to London to pursue MBBS after getting a scholarship, but she did not have the money to travel to Ahmedabad, or to buy a ticket for London. Her family's trip to Ahmedabad was sponsored collectively by the village. Fate, of course, still wouldn't let her travel abroad.
“She had saved some money by teaching kids and the rest was given by her father Suresh Khatik, an auto driver,” said Bagibhai, one of her neighbours.
People from her village Akodra gathered to bid her farewell at the Himmatnagar bus stand in Sabarkantha. “We bid her goodbye and told her we are all proud of her. She will make the whole village proud and one day everyone will know our village because of her. If only we had known it was the last time, we would see her,” said Bagibhai.
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Little reprieve for some
Many families struggled to come to terms with not just the sudden loss but the horrific state of the bodies. Some were charred beyond recognition but handed over to families, packed in coffins.
When 72-year-old Rashid Patel from Surat received the body of his only son, Sahil, he insisted that the coffin be opened so that he can see his son’s face for one last time.
Gomtiben Parmar lost her twin brother Bhogilal, a taxi driver in London, and his wife Hansaben to the air crash. Struck by grief, Gomatiben suffered a fatal heart attack. Her husband Virubhai Parmar was left cremating 3 bodies.
Sahil was an engineer in London who had come home for Eid, and was returning to his wife and son.
Patel, who waited for four days at the Civil Hospital, received his son’s body at around 8 pm on June 16. As he broke down and lay on the coffin, he asked one of the staff of the hospital to open the coffin.
“I'm his father. I was supposed to die before him. Now the least I can do is respect him by seeing his face for the last time,” said Patel with folded hands and tears running down his face.
Insurmountable grief
Gomtiben Parmar from Rakhiyana village, Viramgam, also requested to see her twin brother Bhogilal Parmar for the last time. Bhogilal and his wife Hansaben were home for a month after Hansaben suffered a miscarriage. The couple were returning to London, where Bhogilal worked as a taxi driver.
As the bodies of the couple reached their home in Rakhiyana, Gomatiben collapsed beside her brother's coffin. Her husband, Virubhai Parmar, told The Federal that she suffered a massive heart attack which took her life, making him conduct the last rites of three of his family members that day.
Also read: Ground Report: Charred bodies, distraught families: Harrowing scenes at Ahmedabad hospital
The body of 30-year-old Lawrence Christian was handed over to his family on June 17.
A resident of Maninagar, Ahmedabad, Lawrence had come home to Ahmedabad on June 1 to conduct the last rites of his father. He left for the airport on the ill-fated day with his mother, Ravina Christian, who bid him goodbye with a heavy heart.
As Lawrence held his mother’s hand, he told her not to worry about him and clicked a photo together at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.
Lawrence with his mother
Ravina said she went home from the airport, and got a call from a relative asking her to check the news.
A relative of the family, Jivesh, said, “When we saw the news, Rinal, his sister, broke down screaming. But Ravina refused to believe that her son who had just held her hand was dead. For two days she kept looking for her son amongst the injured."
Finally, on the evening of June 14, Ravina went to the hospital and provided her DNA sample, something she thought she would never have to do, to claim the body of her son.
Also read: ‘Opened my eyes, saw I'm alive’: Sole survivor of Ahmedabad crash recounts horror, escape
Young lives lost
One of the ground victims of the crash was 13-year-old Akash Patni. His family had been evicted around 15 days ago, from the Chandola Lake area, and shifted to the Meghaninagar area in a make-shift tent in in front of his grandmother’s house.
“I sent him home to fetch my lunch and he never came back,” Suresh Patni, Akash’s father, a tea seller by profession, told The Federal.
Akash went home to bring lunch for his father, when a part of the aircraft fell on their house, instantly setting it ablaze. His mother heard his scream and rushed to save him, but her efforts were in vain as she suffered severe burns herself, and still remains critical in the ICU of the Civil Hospital. She has not been told that her son is dead.
His grandmother Babiben also rushed to the spot but was helpless and could only see her grandson burn alive. After five days of waiting, Akash finally came home in a white coffin on June 17.
Akash's family grieves him after his body is delivered to them
“Maro kanudo mari same badi gayo (my grandson burned in front of me),” was all that Babiben managed to say on the day of his funeral. She had set aside her grief to console her family since June 12, but broke down inconsolably at the sight of her grandson's coffin.
Meanwhile, Akash's sister had brought a rakhi for him for one last time, while his elder brother brought over his favourite food. Everything was placed on the coffin as Akash made his last journey.
