Most bodies are charred or mutilated, and the local authorities are working to identify them by matching DNA samples.At least 270 bodies have been recovered after a London-bound Air India plane crashed in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, as a rescue team continues to search the site of India’s worst aviation disaster in three decades.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, with 242 people on board and 125,000 litres of fuel, lost altitude seconds after takeoff on Thursday and crashed into a residential area, killing all but one on board and at least two dozen others on the ground.
Dhaval Gameti, a doctor at Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad, told The Associated Press news agency on Saturday that they have received 270 bodies so far.
Most bodies were charred or mutilated, and the local authorities are working to identify them by matching DNA samples as their relatives waited to perform their last rites. Authorities said it normally takes up to 72 hours to complete DNA matching.
Nearly 10 bodies – not of the passengers – found at the crash site have been returned to their families after identification, a local official told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media. Advertisement
Of the 242 passengers and crew on board the Air India plane, 169 were Indian nationals, 53 were British, seven were Portuguese, and one was Canadian.
The lone survivor, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, is under observation at the Civil Hospital for his impact wounds. Gameti said he was “doing very well and will be …