More than 200 victims of last week’s Air India plane crash have been identified through DNA testing, bringing some relief to grieving families after the devastating tragedy in Ahmedabad.
Out of the 242 passengers and crew aboard the London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, only one survived when the aircraft crashed into a residential area shortly after takeoff on Thursday, killing at least 38 people on the ground as well.
Relatives have been providing DNA samples to aid the painstaking identification process, which is moving forward slowly. By Wednesday, 208 victims had been confirmed, according to Rakesh Joshi, the medical superintendent of the city’s civil hospital.
The jet exploded into a fireball upon impact, with eyewitnesses describing scenes of charred remains scattered across the crash site.
Indian authorities have not yet disclosed the cause of the accident. Investigators from the United Kingdom and the United States have joined the probe to determine what led to the disaster.
Key to the investigation will be the analysis of the black boxes recovered from the wreckage—the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder. India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau recently upgraded its laboratory facilities to better analyse such devices.
In response to the crash, India’s civil aviation regulator has ordered safety inspections of Air India’s Dreamliner fleet.
Meanwhile, Air India announced on Wednesday enhanced safety checks on its Boeing 777 aircraft and a decision to reduce its international wide-body flights by 15 percent until mid-July. This reduction affects routes operated by both Boeing 787-8 and 777 aircraft.
The airline attributed recent cancellations—83 flights since the crash—to “compounding circumstances” including geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, night curfews over airspaces in parts of Europe and East Asia, ongoing safety inspections, and a cautious approach by engineering and flight crews.
Despite the accident, initial regulatory checks found no major safety concerns. The civil aviation authority confirmed that both aircraft and maintenance systems complied with existing safety standards.
