Wait for bodies deepening the pain of families after Air India crash

For Mistri jigsaw 72 hours, they feel like eternity.

As of Thursday night, Mr. Jignesh and his family make the circles of the Ahmedabad Civic Hospital, trying to find details of his 22-year-old niece-one of 242 passengers who died in Air India crash earlier that day.

Authorities told him that they would return the body of his niece in the 72pm, usually necessary to complete a DNA match – which end on Sunday.

But on Saturday, it was told that it could take longer as employees are still looking for bodies from the site of the crash, he says.

“When people are still missing, how can they eventually complete the DNA process by tomorrow? What if my niece’s remains are not even found? Waiting kills us,” he said.

Officials refused to comment on the request of Jignesh, but an employee of the fire service and a police officer told the BBC, provided for anonymity that the remains of passengers was still underway.

Rajain Patel, an additional head of the civil hospital, said on Saturday that 11 casualties have been identified so far based on their DNA samples, adding that their families have been informed.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, on the way to Gatwick Airport in London, crashed and burst into a fiery ball, shortly after flying off Ahmedabad’s main airport, in the worst aviation crash in India.

Only one of 242 passengers and a crew on board survives. At least eight others were killed when the plane hit the hostel at the Medical College when he descended into a densely populated residential area near the airport.

Since then, things have been moving fast.

The Indian government has ordered an investigation into a high level of the incident and ordered that all Boeing 787, managed by local carriers to be inspected.

Although the cause of the crash remains unknown, the country’s aviation body said it was taking advantage of all possible causes of the accident, and also brought foreign aviation experts to assist in the investigation.

Back at the hospital, doctors compete to complete DNA samples from the victims so that they can start returning the bodies to their families.

But for families such as Jignesh, time goes by when a lull.

Officials have talked about how the process of organ identification is extremely challenging – and is carried out in small batches – as most remains are charred beyond recognition.

“There is no possibility of mistakes here – we have to guarantee that every family receives the right body,” says HP Sangi, Director of the Forensic Science Directorate in Gandinagar. “But identifying DNA is a time -consuming process. In addition, given the scale of the disaster, it is possible to damage the DNA of several passengers due to the extremely high explosion temperature.”

Jaishankar Pillai, a forensic dentist at the hospital, told reporters that his team was trying to collect dental records from charred bodies, as this may be the only source of DNA left.

Waiting is beyond the agonizing for families, many of whom have refused to talk to the media, saying that they just want to return home with “everything left of their loved ones.”

“We are not able to say anything. Our words are failing right now,” said a woman who was waiting with three family members outside the autopsy room, “BBC told the BBC eagerly as she quickly got into her car.

Meanwhile, employees at BJ Medical College have begun to release several wards of the hostel near which the aircraft struck. So far, four wards – including the hostel canteen, the site of the crash – are completely emptied.

But students living in other hostel wings also began to leave.

“There are only three people left in one of the wards – so far everyone else has returned to their homes. They will also leave soon, but until then they are sitting there, quite alone, persecuted by the memory of what happened,” said their friend, who is also a college student and wanted to remain anonymous, “he said.

But between college and the hospital – in the huge space of this city of more than seven million people – there are many others who are also distracted by the tragedy.

The last Calavadia Cartic heard about his brother Mahesh was on Thursday, about 30 minutes before the crash.

It was a phone call that Mahesh made to his wife, “I’m going home,” he told her.

She has never been heard from him again.

A music producer in the Gujarati film industry, Mahesh was back home from work that day and crossed the area when the plane broke and crashed into the buildings.

Calavadia told the BBC that his brother’s last place before his phone became inaccessible was only a few hundred meters from the BJ Medical College.

Since then, the family has filed a complaint with the police and has made countless visits to the Civil Hospital. They have found nothing so far.

“The hospital told us that they had no information about my brother. We also tried to follow his scooter, but nothing turned out,” said G -n Calavadia.

“It was as if he had disappeared into thin air.”

At a press conference on Saturday, Civil Aviation Secretary SK Sinha admitted that the last two days were “very difficult”, but assured that the investigation was running smoothly and in the right direction.

But G -n Calavadia wondered if any of these investigations – in the plane crash, the victims and then – would help him find his brother, dead or alive.

“We don’t know the answer, but we can hope it is positive, I guess,” he said.

Back at the Civil Hospital, the wait continues to pursue families.

When BBC I last met imiyaz ali sayed On Thursday night, he still denied that his family, his brother Javer, along with his wife and two children – could die in the crash.

But on Saturday, he looked closer to “acceptance of the truth.”

“With only a few hours left, we are now trying to decide what it will be like: whether we will bury him here or in the UK, where his wife’s family lives,” he said.

“For me there is no difference that you know?” He continued, “Because he is gone, from ashes to dust and back to God.”

Additional reporting from Antriksha Pathania in Ahmedabad