Today's Edition
AHMEDABAD (AFP)
Indian health officials have begun handing relatives the bodies of their loved ones after one of the world's worst plane crashes in decades, but most families were still waiting Monday for results of DNA testing.
While mourners have held funerals for some of the 279 people killed when the Air India jet crashed in the western city of Ahmedabad, others are facing an anguished wait.
There was one survivor out of 242 passengers and crew on board the London-bound plane Thursday when it slammed into a residential area of Ahmedabad, killing at least 38 people on the ground as well.
As of late Sunday, 80 crash victims had been identified, according to Rajnish Patel, a doctor at Ahmedabad's civil hospital.
"This is a meticulous and slow process, so it has to be done meticulously only," Patel said.
Witnesses reported seeing badly burnt bodies and scattered remains.
Workers went on clearing debris from the site on Sunday, while police inspected the area.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner erupted into a fireball when it went down moments after takeoff, smashing into buildings used by medical staff.
Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian on board the flight, as well as 12 crew members.
Black Box
Indian authorities have yet to identify the cause of the disaster and have ordered inspections of Air India's Dreamliners.
Authorities announced Sunday that the second black box, the cockpit voice recorder, had been recovered, which may offer investigators more clues about what went wrong.
Aviation Minister, Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu, said Saturday he hoped decoding the first black box, the flight data recorder, would "give an in-depth insight" into the circumstances of the crash.
