DNA test identifies last victim of Ahmedabad crash, death count stands at 260

More than two weeks after the Ahmedabad plane crash, the DNA test has ascertained the identity of the last victim, and the death toll in the tragedy now stands at 260, officials said on Saturday.

The remains of the last victim were handed over to the family, they said.

The medical authorities had earlier pegged the fatality count at 270.

A London-bound Air India flight crashed into a hostel complex in the Meghaninagar area of Ahmedabad moments after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in the city on June 12, killing 241 on board and several others on the ground. One passenger miraculously survived.

“The DNA matching of the last body of the Air India plane crash victim has been done. The victim’s mortal remains have been handed over to relatives,” Superintendent of Ahmedabad Civil Hospital Dr Rakesh Joshi said.

“With this, the death toll in the plane crash is 260,” he said, adding that three patients, who suffered injuries in the air crash, were undergoing treatment in the civil hospital.

The bodies of all 260 victims have been handed over to the relatives so far.

Of the 241 passengers and crew members who died, the mortal remains of 240 had been identified earlier while one body was pending for match. The matching of the DNA samples confirmed the victim’s identity on Friday, the officials said.

Apart from 241 passengers and crew members, 19 persons on the ground died, they said.

A 40-year-old British national, Vishwas Kumar Ramesh, emerged as the lone survivor of the plane crash.

Till June 23, officials had confirmed the identity of 259 victims.

They had to carry out DNA tests to establish the identity of the victims as many bodies were charred beyond recognition or damaged.

The 260 victims included 200 Indians, including 181 passengers and 19 ground victims, seven Portuguese nationals, 52 British nationals and one Canadian, the government said in a release.

An official release said the DNA matching process was very complicated as a large number of bodies had to be identified since they were beyond recognition. In such cases, the DNA matching of victims with their family members takes months. But in the case of the Air India plane crash, identification of samples was completed in about two weeks, it said.

Source: PTI

- Agencies