AHMEDABAD
\nIndian health officials have begun handing relatives the bodies of their loved ones after one of the world\u2019s worst plane crashes in decades, but most families were still waiting Monday for results of DNA testing.
\nWhile mourners have held funerals for some of the 279 people killed when the Air India jet crashed in the western city of Ahmedabad, others are facing an anguished wait.
\n\u201cThey said it would take 48 hours. But it\u2019s been four days and we haven\u2019t received any response,\u201d said Rinal Christian, 23, whose elder brother was a passenger on the jetliner.
\nThere was one survivor out of 242 passengers and crew on board the London-bound plane Thursday when it slammed into a residential area of Ahmedabad, killing at least 38 people on the ground as well.
\n\u201cMy brother was the sole breadwinner of the family,\u201d Christian said Sunday. \u201cSo what happens next?\u201c
\nAmong the latest victims identified was Vijay Rupani, a senior member of India\u2019s ruling party and former chief minister of Gujarat state.
\nHis flag-draped coffin was carried in Ahmedabad by soldiers, along with a portrait of the politician draped in a garland of flowers.
\nA two-hour journey away in Anand district, crowds gathered in a funeral procession for passenger Kinal Mistry.
\nThe 24-year-old had postponed her flight, leaving her father Suresh Mistry agonizing that \u201cshe would have been alive\u201d if she had stuck to her original plan.
\nAir India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian on board the flight, as well as 12 crew members.
\nEighty crash victims have been identified as of late Sunday, according to Rajnish Patel, a doctor at Ahmedabad\u2019s civil hospital.
\n\u201cThis is a meticulous and slow process, so it has to be done meticulously only,\u201d Patel said.
\nOne victim\u2019s relative who did not want to be named told AFP they had been instructed not to open the coffin when they receive it.
\nWitnesses reported seeing badly burnt bodies and scattered remains.
\nNilesh Vaghela, a casket maker, was asleep when the crash happened early afternoon.
\n\u201cThen around 5:00 pm, I got a call from Air India saying they need coffins,\u201d he told AFP after delivering dozens.
\n\u201cMy work is very sad. All these innocent people died, small children,\u201d he said. \u201cSomeone has to do it.\u201d
\nThe Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner erupted into a fireball when it went down moments after takeoff, smashing into buildings used by medical staff.
\nThe task of clearing debris from the scorched crash site went on in Ahmedabad, where an AFP photographer saw dozens of workers in yellow hard hats.
\nIndian authorities have yet to identify the cause of the disaster and have ordered inspections of Air India\u2019s Dreamliners.
\nThe airline said one of its Dreamliners on Monday returned to Hong Kong airport \u201cshortly after take off due to a technical issue\u201d and was undergoing checks.
\nIndian authorities announced Sunday that the second black box of the Ahmedabad plane, the cockpit voice recorder, had been recovered. This may offer investigators more clues about what went wrong.
\nAviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said Saturday he hoped decoding the first black box, the flight data recorder, would \u201cgive an in-depth insight\u201d into the circumstances of the crash.
\nImtiyaz Ali, who was still waiting for a DNA match to find his brother, is also seeking answers.
\n\u201cNext step is to find out the reason for this accident. We need to know,\u201d he told AFP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
AHMEDABAD Indian health officials have begun handing relatives the bodies of their loved ones after one of the world\u2019s worst plane crashes in decades, but most families were still waiting Monday for results of DNA testing. While mourners have held funerals for some of the 279 people killed when the Air India jet crashed in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484684,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-484665","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n