Death toll in plane tragedy touches 270, say doctors; Centre forms panel to find causes of crash

Ahmedabad: The death toll in the Air India plane tragedy touched 270 on Saturday with doctors saying that these many bodies have been brought to the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital from the crash site so far. Officials said the Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Service (AFES) recovered a corpse and some human body parts in the last 24 hours from the plane crash site.

The authorities had earlier pegged the death toll at 265. The Centre has set up a high-level multi-disciplinary committee, headed by the Union home secretary, to examine the causes that led to the Air India plane crash, and also suggest comprehensive guidelines to prevent such incidents in the future. The London-bound Air India flight, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner (AI 171) with 242 people on board, crashed into a medical hostel and its canteen complex in the Meghaninagar area on Thursday afternoon, moments after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. "Around 270 bodies have been brought to the civil hospital so far from the plane crash site," President of Junior Doctors association of BJ Medical College, Dr Dhaval Gameti, told media reporters.

The process of identification of victims by matching the DNA samples is currently underway, and the bodies will be handed over to their relatives once the process is complete, he said. Additional Chief Fire Officer Jayesh Khadia said, "Our firemen, who are helping forensic and aviation experts in their ongoing investigation at the crash site, found some body parts from the canteen's rubble on Friday, while a body was found today morning." Apart from central and state government agencies, a team of the National Security Guard (NSG) has also been deployed at the Air India plane crash site. Official sources said the NSG team has been deployed to assist other agencies in relief operations and they do not have any investigative powers. NSG commandos were seen at the crash site on the hostel building where the tail of the plane got stuck after the crash.

Agencies like Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Ahmedabad crime branch and local police, among others, are involved in the investigation. Sources said the National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials visited the site on Friday. A high-level multi-disciplinary committee, headed by the Union home secretary, has been formed to examine the causes that led to the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, the civil aviation ministry said in Delhi. The committee will not be a substitute to other enquiries being conducted by relevant organisations, it said. The panel "will focus on formulating the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for preventing and handling such occurrences in the future, and will publish its report in three months, it added. Ahmedabad fire brigade officials said since the tail fin of the aircraft was stuck on top of the canteen's damaged building, cranes have been roped in to remove it and bring it down. "We will start the work of removing the tail fin from the building and bring it on the ground once Air India officials arrive at the site," Khadia said.

After the crash, senior police officials had informed the media that at least 265 people were killed in the crash, which included passengers and other victims on the ground. Of the 242 passengers and crew members, 241 have been killed in the plane crash, while one passenger miraculously survived. Meanwhile, student hostels that suffered damage in the crash are being vacated for a probe by the AAIB and accommodated elsewhere, Minakshi Parikh, the Dean of the B J Medical College said. "The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AIIB), under the Civil Aviation Ministry, wants to probe (the air crash). For this, Atulyam 1, 2, 3 and 4 have been vacated or are being vacated. We have made an alternative arrangement for post-graduate students residing there," she said.