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DNA profiling for plane crash victims ends, toll stands at 260

Ahmedabad: The final human toll in the Air India Flight 171 tragedy stands at 260 people, officials in Gujarat announced, two weeks after the Boeing 787 crashed shortly after take-off from the city's only airport in the deadliest aviation incident in the country in three decades. The final death toll of 260 -- comprising 241 passengers and crew members aboard the aircraft and 19 people killed on the ground -- is lower than initial estimates of 270 fatalities. "The plane crash death toll stands at 260. We will not reveal victim identities. All bodies have been recovered and identified, with the mortal remains of all of them handed over to their families," additional chief secretary of health and family welfare Dhananjay Dwivedi told HT. Dr Rakesh Joshi, the head of Ahmedabad civil hospital, told HT that all remains were identified and verified using DNA matching and facial recognition. "The last body, of a passenger, was identified on Friday night using DNA match," Joshi said. The London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed into a medical college hostel complex approximately 30 seconds after take-off on 12 June from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, destroying portions of the building and bursting into flames. Among the victims were junior doctors, staff at the hospital complex and people on the street below. One passenger, in what has been described as a providential escape, walked out of the crash after he was thrown further away from the burning wreckage. The impact of the crash and the inferno that followed meant remains of most victims, except for most of the 19 casualties on the ground, were unrecognisable, requiring officials to seek DNA samples from family members to help make the identification. "Four of the people were brought in alive but succumbed to their injuries during treatment. In all, 71 people were injured and hospitalised, with most treated at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital and others at Zydus Hospital, KD Hospital, and Apollo Hospital. Of these, 67 patients have been discharged from medical facilities," said Dwivedi. An official aware of the development said that the final DNA matching was that of Anil Khimani, 32, from Bhuj in Kutch, adding that the condition of those discharged is said to be stable. Among the 260 deaths, 254 victims were identified through DNA testing and the remaining through facial recognition. The DNA identification process, which typically takes months, was completed in approximately two weeks, experts said. A total of 318 body parts were recovered from the crash site at Meghaninagar, said a senior police official, asking not to be named. One forensics experts who worked on the cases said the challenge was such that one of the living remains that were recovered later turned out to be that of a bird -- a confirmation that came only after repeated attempts to extract information from a deteriorated sample once it did not throw up any match. Dr Bhargav Patel, head of the Centre of Excellence in DNA Forensics at NFSU, said his team of 32 scientists and PhD scholars processed more than 150 DNA samples from crash victims. DNA samples from 250 relatives were collected at Ahmedabad Forensic Science Laboratory, whilst matching was conducted at FSL Gandhinagar and NFSU. Bodies have been repatriated across multiple states and countries, with Ahmedabad receiving the largest number at 73, followed by Anand with 29 and Vadodara with 24. Thirteen bodies were sent to the United Kingdom. The aircraft took off at 1:39 pm local time and reached an altitude of 625 feet before losing signal, according to flight tracking data. The crew issued a mayday call reporting loss of power and thrust less than a minute after takeoff. The crash marked the first fatal accident and hull loss of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner since the aircraft entered commercial service in 2011. It represents India's deadliest aviation disaster since the 1996 Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision. India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is leading the investigation with assistance from the US National Transportation Safety Board and British investigators. Both flight data recorders have been recovered from the crash site.

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