By Juan Verano
Ahmedabad, India, June 14 (EFE).— The families of foreign victims of the Air India crash are arriving in this western Indian city to identify their loved ones and navigate a maze of red tape, facing grief, DNA protocols, and diplomatic hurdles after one of the country’s worst air disasters.
A labyrinth of official protocols has compounded the grief following the tragedy that claimed more than 270 lives earlier this week, according to police sources.
The air conditioning at the international airport contrasts with the sweltering Gujarat heat, but offers no relief for grieving families like Preeti Pandya’s. Alongside her mother, Pushpa, she waits for a vehicle.
Her father, Ramesh Patel, 77, who lived in London, was among the 241 people on board the ill-fated plane.
“I lost my dad on the plane, Ramesh Patel,” she told EFE through tears. Holding her arm, her mother weeps inconsolably.
“We flew out yesterday from London Gatwick to come here to obviously identify my dad.”
She said that she, her mother, and her brother would need to do the DNA test. Also traveling with her are her husband and her sister-in-law.
Their journey traces the reverse path of the plane that crashed seconds after takeoff on Thursday, following a “Mayday” call.
The family’s wait at the airport marks only the beginning of an arduous procedure. While Preeti’s brother heads to the Civil Hospital to undergo a mandatory DNA test, a required step in a long chain of official protocols, they remain behind.
For families like theirs, grief is suspended, pending scientific confirmation that will allow them to begin the repatriation process, each step stamped and certified in bureaucratic ink.
The Patels’ story reflects enduring bonds. The Gujarati community is the largest among Indians living in the United Kingdom, which explains why so many on board held British passports.
“He was a good man who never asked for anything in return,” Ramesh Patel’s son-in-law tells EFE, showing a photo of the elderly man.
The warmth of that memory stands in stark contrast to the cold formalities now confronting them.Of those who died aboard, 53 were British citizens.
Also among the dead are victims on the ground, including at least 10 doctors and their families who were in the BJ Medical College residence at the time of the crash.
A 38-year-old Briton, Vishwas Kumar, was the sole survivor. His seat was ejected from the cabin before impact, which occurred shortly after takeoff. The cause remains under investigation.
Tonight, 72 hours after the disaster, the bodies identified through DNA testing will begin to be handed over to relatives.
Bodies that were identifiable without DNA analysis were shifted to the morgue on Friday, amid a heavy police presence, dozens of volunteers, and a large contingent of local, national, and international media.
Each identification marks the beginning of yet another round of paperwork, slow, complex, and spanning embassies across two continents.
As engineers examine black box data to piece together the final 30 seconds of the flight, time seems frozen for the grieving families, locked at the moment they learned the plane had never reached its destination.
The AI171 tragedy now ranks among the deadliest in Indian aviation history.EFE
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