The Gujarat Health Department on Tuesday released an official (updated) tally of lives lost in the devastating London-bound Air India flight crash in Ahmedabad on June 12.
According to the updated figures, 275 lives were lost in total, of which 241 were onboard the flight, and the remaining 34 were on the ground, in the vicinity of the crash site (a medical hostel). Only one passenger aboard the flight—a British-Indian man seated in seat 11A—survived.
According to health department officials, all bodies have now been recovered, with 266 bodies identified so far—260 by DNA matching, and 6 by facial recognition. The DNA identification of the remaining bodies is still under progress, as per an NDTV report.
The London-bound AI 171 Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which could not gain altitude quickly enough after take-off, crashed seconds later into the BJ Medical College hostel in Meghani Nagar, located just outside the airport perimeter.
"As per ATC, the aircraft departed from Ahmedabad at 13:39 IST from runway 23. It gave a MAYDAY Call to ATC, but thereafter, no response was given by the aircraft to the calls made by ATC. Aircraft immediately after departure from Runway 23, fell on the ground outside the airport perimeter. Heavy black smoke was seen coming from the accident site," the Directorate General of Civil Aviation had said, in a statement.
As the cause of the crash has not been ascertained yet, the flight's black box continues to be examined. Rubbishing previous reports of the black box being sent abroad for inspection, Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu called it “speculation”.
"The black box is very much in India, and it is currently being investigated by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB)," he clarified.
Following the backlash that both Air India and Boeing received after the tragedy, the former has introduced a slew of remedial measures, such as temporary cuts of “less than 5 per cent to its overall narrow-body network", as well as reductions in international services, as per recent Air India statements.