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Three days after the accident, only 32 of the deceased could have been positively identified through DNA testing, according to hospital officials.
Debris lies in a medical college hostel canteen after an Air India aircraft, bound for London’s Gatwick Airport, crashed there after taking off from an airport in Ahmedabad (Reuters photo)
Almost half an hour before the devastating plane crash tore through a college hostel in Ahmedabad, Ravi Thakor and his wife stepped out to deliver lunchboxes, leaving their two-year-old daughter and elderly mother at the canteen where they worked.
As Thakor desperately searches for his two loved ones, he hopes for a second miracle, like the survival of the sole passenger among the 242 people on board the plane.
“If one of the plane passengers could survive the crash, there could be a second miracle, and my mother and daughter could also be safe,” a visibly distraught Thakor told Reuters outside one of the hospitals. His wife, Lalita, stood beside him, stone-faced.
In that moment of chaos, Thakor wondered if someone might have rescued his daughter. Despite the heartbreak, Thakor hasn’t given up.
“We realise that the chances of finding them alive are bleak, but we have not given up hope,” Thakor said.
Thakor at first thought the loud bang he heard was a gas cylinder blast before he noticed the building he had just left was engulfed in flames. It has been four days as he continues to look for his mother and daughter at hospitals and the morgue.
Police told Reuters they are treating it as a missing persons case.
The couple has provided DNA samples to aid the identification process, but they have yet to receive any results. So far, only 32 of the deceased have been positively identified through DNA testing, according to hospital officials.
The death toll in the crash climbed to 271-the 241 passengers and crew on the plane and the remaining people on the ground, mostly in the hostel building.
The crash has left several families heartbroken and shattered. Some were also lucky to escape death. Among them was Vaishali Lalwani, a postgraduate medical student from Godhra studying at B J Medical College (BJMC).
Vaishali had skipped lunch on Thursday, and this minor change saved her from the unfortunate incident.
Recalling the anxious moments, her father, Suresh Lalwani, told reporters, “When we heard about the crash and learned it happened near her usual lunch spot, panic set in. We tried reaching her, and the moment she answered the phone, we were overwhelmed with relief.”
When the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner jet struck the hostel canteen on Thursday, many students were eating lunch. Steel tumblers and plates still containing food lay on the few tables that were left intact, according to Reuters.
The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d…Read More
The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d… Read More
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