Meena Patel’s daughter reacts as she attends the cremation of her father Dilip Patel and mother, Meena, who died in the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane crash during take-off from an airport in Ahmedabad, on June 16, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
The Gujarat government on Monday (June 16, 2025) said that DNA profiling has helped identify 119 victims of the June 12 Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad.Also read: Air India Ahmedabad plane crash updates on June 16, 2025The official death toll, however, has yet to be formally announced, even as the Tata-owned Air India has said that 241 of the 242 people onboard the aircraft perished in the accident. Several others on the ground were also killed or injured when the plane crashed into a residential locality after takeoff.The delay in officially declaring the total number of casualties has caused concern among the locals and among inmates of the hostel where the aircraft had crashed, especially as several people were killed or critically injured on the ground in the incident.Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi said that the “identification process is still underway”, indicating the scale and complexity of the forensic effort.Hospital authorities confirmed that 76 bodies — including that of former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani — have been handed over to the families of victims. Rupani, who was among the passengers on board the ill-fated London-bound flight, was travelling to visit his family in the UK. His remains were received by his wife Anjali Rupani and other family members at Ahmedabad’s Civil Hospital before being taken to his hometown, Rajkot, for final rites.Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel visited the hospital on Monday (June 16, 2025), where many families have been camping for days to collect the mortal remains of their loved ones. He offered condolences and instructed officials to speed up the identification process while ensuring dignity in the handover. With the bodies of the victims charred and mutilated, the authorities are relying on DNA testing for positive identification.Rakesh Joshi, superintendent of the Civil Hospital, said, “Some families are anxious, understandably. But DNA matching is a legally binding procedure. We urge them to bear with us as we complete this with care and urgency.”He said that the deceased, whose bodies have been handed over to their families, were from different parts of Gujarat and Rajasthan.“Some are complaining that the results have not come even after 72 hours. We’re aiming to complete the DNA identification process for all victims by late Tuesday or early Wednesday. I appeal to them not to panic because this is a very important process with legal implications. We will call them as soon as results arrive,” Dr. Joshi added. On Sunday (June 15, 2025), hospital authorities had said that they had collected DNA samples from 250 victims, including those who died on the ground. Published - June 16, 2025 01:18 pm IST
