The search team continued to search for one of India’s worst aviation disasters after Air India Flight fell from the sky and killed at least 270 people in Gujarat.
A London-bound Boeing 787 attacked a medical school hostel in a residential area in Ahmedabad, Northwestern city, minutes after taking off on Thursday, killing 241 people, and at least 29 people on board. One passenger survived.
The recovery team that works through Friday has found at least 25 bodies in the debris, officials said.
Dr Dabar Gameti of Ahmedabad’s Municipal Hospital told The Associated Press that the facility has received 270 bodies, adding that the only surviving passengers are still under observation for some of his wounds.
“He’s doing very well and will be ready to be released from hospital soon,” Gamety said Saturday.
Hundreds of relatives of crashed victims are providing DNA samples at hospitals. Most of the bodies were burnt or severed and were not recognised.
Some relatives expressed their complaints on Saturday that the process was taking too long. Officials say it usually takes up to 72 hours to complete the DNA matching, and they are driving the process.
“Where are my children? Have you recovered them?” asked Rafiq Abdullah, whose stepdaughter and two grandchildren are on flight. “I have to ask questions. The government has not answered these questions.”
Another relative asked hospital staff permanently when his relative’s body was handed over to the family for the final ritual.
“Give us a body,” the relative insisted.
In addition to the formal investigation, the Indian government says it has formed a high-level interdisciplinary committee to investigate the causes that lead to the crash.
The committee focused on developing procedures to prevent and handle future aircraft emergency situations, “it is not a substitute for other inquiries undertaken by the relevant organisations,” the Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a statement.
Authorities have begun to inspect the entire fleet of India’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, Indian Civil Aviation Minister Rammohannaidukkinjarap said on Saturday in New Delhi in his first news briefing since crash on Thursday.
Of India’s 34 Dreamliner aircraft, eight have already been tested, Kinjarap said, adding that the remaining aircraft will be tested with “immediate urgency.”
The government is eagerly awaiting the results of the crash investigation by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau and without hesitation all necessary measures will be taken, Kinjarapu said.
Friday investigators could retrieve a black box recovered from the plane’s digital flight data recorder or rooftop near the crash site, leading to clues as to the cause of the accident.
India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said it has begun working with “full force” to extract the data.
The device is expected to reveal information about engine and control settings, but the voice recorder will provide a cockpit conversation, says Paul Fromme, a mechanical engineer at the UK-based mechanical engineering agency.
Aviation Safety Consultant Jeff Gutzetti, a former crash researcher for both the National Traffic Safety Commission and the Federal Aviation Administration, said investigators should be able to answer some key questions about the cause of crashes next week, as long as the flight data recorder is in good condition.
Investigators are considering whether the wing flaps were set correctly, whether the engine had lost power and the alarm had gone out in the cockpit, and whether the plane’s crew correctly recorded information on high temperatures outside and fuel and passenger weight, Guzzetti said.
A mistake in the data could result in the wing flap being misaligned, he said.
Thursday’s Air India collision included a 12-year-old Boeing 787. Boeing planes are troubled by the safety of other types of aircraft.
According to experts, there are currently around 1,200 of the 787 Dreamliner aircraft around the world, which was the first fatal crash in a 16-year business.