Ahmedabad Plane Crash News Highlights: Gujarat Ex-CM Rupani’s mortal remains handed over to kin; high-level probe panel to hold first meeting today

Authorities here have so far identified 32 victims through DNA testing and bodies of 14 have been handed over to their families, additional civil superintendent Dr Rajnish Patel said as per PTI.

The victims identified so far were from different places in Gujarat and Rajasthan, he added.

In Vadodara, another family in sorrow bids farewell to a loved one.

In photo: Family and neighbours of crash victim Anju Sharma in Vadodara perform the last rites after receiving mortal remains on Sunday morning.

They tell our reported Aditi that Anju, who was also travelling to meet her son in London, was "full of life" and a creator of inspirational reels on social media.

One of her recent reels, uncannily, was about life's uncertainty with a background song "Aadmi Khilona Hai".

Dr Sudhir Gupta, head of the forensic medicine department at AIIMS, New Delhi, explains that physical features allow for quicker identification than DNA testing.

“We do not want families who are already grieving to wait longer than necessary. DNA is used only in cases where there is doubt—or in scenarios like building fires where we don’t know who was present,” he said.

However, he added that for the sake of dignity, authorities may still opt for DNA matching in all cases, particularly when bodies are disfigured. “In aviation crashes, especially mid-air collisions, full bodies are often not recoverable. Whatever is recovered is handed to the family for last rites, along with a death certificate,” he said.

The process of DNA matching of former Gujarat CM and senior BJP leader Vijay Rupani is also being done, as per Dr Rajnish Patel, professor of surgery at the government-run B J Medical College.

Ambulances are waiting outside the medical college to take back the identified bodies to the respective districts where they will be handed over to the families.

Rupani was among the 241 passengers onboard the Air India plane that crashed on June 12. He was headed to London to visit his daughter.

Rupani, the BJP’s Punjab in-charge, was initially supposed to fly to London with his wife on June 5, but postponed his visit for the campaign for June 19 Ludhiana West Assembly bypoll.

As of 9 pm Saturday, the identities of 19 victims have been identified through DNA testing at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, Gujarat minister Harsh Sanghavi said. “Update as of 9:00 PM- 19 DNA samples have been matched so far, confirming the identities of victims. State Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) unit team and National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) team are working through the night to match more DNA samples,” he wrote in a post on X. Of those identified, one body, that of Poornima Patel from Dakor, was handed over to her relatives on Saturday afternoon. the bodies of eight victims, who were identified by their relatives and did not need DNA profiling, have already been handed over to their families.

A high-level probe panel, headed by the Union home secretary, was set up on Saturday. The announcement by the Union Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu came two days after the ill-fated Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed near the Ahmedabad airport killing 241 passengers and several others on the ground.

The high-level panel is likely to hold its first meeting on Monday. It is expected to submit within three months its report detailing the causes of the accident, Naidu said during a press briefing on Saturday. The ministry said in a statement that the panel “will focus on formulating SOPs for preventing and handling such occurrences in the future”.