Remains of Air India crash victims handed over to relatives
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The London-bound Boeing 787 struck a medical college hostel in a residential area of the northwestern city of Ahmedabad minutes after takeoff on Thursday, killing 241 people on board and at least 29 on the ground.

Civilians look on as Indian firefighters and rescue personnel work on the site of an Air India plane crash. (AP)
Air India plane crash site
Parts of an Air India plane that crashed on Thursday. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Hundreds of relatives of the crash victims provided DNA samples at the hospital.

Most of the bodies were charred or mutilated, making them unrecognisable.

Rajneesh Patel, an official at the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad, said authorities have so far identified 32 victims through DNA mapping and their families were informed.

He said the remains of 14 victims were handed over to relatives.

Apocalyptic scenes after horror Air India crash

Most of them have expressed frustration at the slow pace of the identification process.

Authorities say it normally takes up to 72 hours to complete DNA matching and they are expediting the process.

Among the passengers, 169 were Indians, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese and one Canadian.

Relatives unload the coffin containing the remains of Megha Mehta, a victim of the Air India plane crash, upon arrival at a crematorium during her funeral in Ahmedabad.
Relatives unload the coffin containing the remains of a victim of the Air India plane crash. (AP)

Qasim Rashid Ahmed, a British national of Indian origin whose charity provided food and accommodation to the victims’ relatives, said most of the British victims had relatives in Gujarat state and had given their DNA samples.

Alongside the formal investigation, the Indian government has set up a high-level committee to examine the causes leading to the crash.

The committee will focus on formulating procedures to prevent and handle aircraft emergencies in the future, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a statement on Saturday.

Authorities have also begun inspecting Air India’s entire fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners, Minister of Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said on Saturday in New Delhi at his first news briefing since Thursday’s crash.

Eight of the 34 Dreamliners in India have already undergone inspection, Kinjarapu said, adding that the remaining aircraft will be examined with “immediate urgency”.

Investigators on Friday recovered the plane’s digital flight data recorder, or the black box, from a rooftop near the crash site.

Air India plane crash
First responders at the crash site scenes in Ahmedabad. (X/ Central Industrial Security Force, MHA )

The device is expected to reveal information about the engine and control settings, while the voice recorder will provide cockpit conversations, said Paul Fromme, a mechanical engineer with the UK-based Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

The plane that crashed was 12 years old.

Boeing planes have been plagued by safety issues on other types of aircraft.

There are currently around 1200 of the 787 Dreamliner aircraft worldwide and this was the first deadly crash in 16 years of operation, according to experts.

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