Search teams scour Air India plane crash site as death toll rises to 270, relatives press for answers

The research and recovery teams continued to browse the site of one of the worst aeronautical disasters in India for a third day after the Air India flight fell from the sky and killed at least 270 people in the state of Gujarat, officials announced on Saturday.

The Boeing 787 to London struck a medical college inn in a residential area in the city in the northwest of Ahmedabad a few minutes after takeoff on Thursday, killing 241 people on board and at least 29 on the field. A passenger has survived.

The recovery teams working until the end on Friday found at least 25 other bodies in debris, officials said.

Dr. Dhaval Gameti at Ahmedabad civilian hospital said the installation had received 270 bodies, adding the Surviving passenger alone was still under observation for some of his injuries.

“He is fine and will be ready to be released anytime soon,” said Gameti on Saturday.

Hundreds of parents of the accident victims provided DNA samples to the hospital. Most bodies were charred or not recognizable.

“Where are my children?”

Some relatives have expressed their frustration that the process takes too long. The authorities say that it normally takes up to 72 hours to finish the matching of DNA and that they accelerate the process.

“Where are my children? Did you get them?” asked Rafiq Abdullah, whose nephew, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren were on the flight. “I will have to ask questions. The government does not answer these questions.”

Another parent has persistently the hospital staff when the body of their parent was given to the family for the last rites.

“Give us the body,” insisted the parent.

Among those of the flight, there was a Canadian citizen, Mississauga, Ontario, dentist Dr Nirali Sureshkumar Patel, confirmed her husband.

In addition to the official investigation, the Indian government said it had trained a high -level multidisciplinary committee to examine the causes leading to the accident.

The Committee will focus on the formulation of procedures to prevent and manage planes emergencies in the future and “will not be replaced by other requests by organizations concerned,” the Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a press release.

Friday, the investigators recovered the plane’s digital flight data recorder, or the black box, which was recovered on a roof near the accident site and will likely cause clues to the cause of the accident.

The India Aircraft accident survey office said that it had started working with “full strength” to extract data.

The device is expected to reveal information on the engine and the control parameters, while the voice recorder will provide cockpit conversations, said Paul FromMme, mechanical engineer of the mechanical engineers based in the United Kingdom.

Data recorder key to obtain quick responses

Aeriens consultant Jeff Guzzetti, a former crash investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration, said that investigators should be able to answer certain important questions about what caused the accident next week, as long as the flight data recorder is in good condition.

Investigators probably examine if the wing shutters were properly adjusted, the engine lost energy, the alarms occurred inside the cockpit and if the plane crew has correctly recorded information on hot temperature outside and the weight of fuel and passengers, said Guzzetti.

Data errors could lead to the definition of wing shutters, he said.

Thursday’s accident involved a 12 -year -old Boeing 787. Boeing aircraft were prey to safety problems on other types
of the plane.

There are currently about 1,200 of the 787 Dreamliner planes worldwide, and it was the first fatal accident in 16 years of operation, according to experts.