Doctors in India say 270 bodies have been recovered from the site of Thursday’s plane crash in Ahmedabad.
The London-bound aircraft crashed into a residential area shortly after take-off killing all but one of the 242 passengers and crew members, a 40-year-old British man.
Officials have also been trying to establish how many people were killed on the ground and have been continuing the slow process of matching DNA samples to confirm the victims’ identities.
Vigils honouring the dead have taken place across India and the UK.
About 100 people gathered outside the High Commission of India in London on Sunday, with many laying candles in memory of those who died in the crash.
One community leader said they had been in touch with a family who had flown to India to identify the remains of their loved ones and were waiting in hospital for the results of DNA matching.
Many people at the gathering want answers on how and why the incident could have happened, the community leader said.
India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is leading the inquiry into the cause of the crash, helped by teams from the US and UK.
On Friday, a black box was found at the site of the crash which India’s civil aviation minister, Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu, said would “significantly aid the inquiry” into the disaster.
Less than 60 seconds after leaving Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, the plane lost altitude and crashed into a building that was used as doctors’ accommodation at the BJ Medical College and Civil Hospital.
On Saturday, the President of the Junior Doctors’ Association of the college, Dr Dhaval Gameti, confirmed the hospital had received the bodies of 270 victims.
Of those, 241 are believed to be passengers and crew of Flight AI171.
More than thirty victims have also been formally identified using DNA samples provided by relatives.
According to data by tracking website, Flightradar24, the Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 was 11 years old and had operated 25 flights from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick in the past two years.
In response to Thursday’s crash, India’s aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), ordered additional safety checks on Air India’s Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 fleet, describing it as a “preventive measure”.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi spent around 20 minutes walking around the site of the plane crash on Friday.
He also visited the hospital to meet some of those injured in the disaster, including the sole plane survivor Vishwashkumar Ramesh, later saying that “the entire nation is praying for their speedy recovery”.
Air India CEO Campbell Wilson also went to the crash site on Friday and described the visit as “deeply moving”.
(BBC News)
