India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is leading the inquiry into the cause of the crash, helped by teams from the US and the UK.

On Sunday, officials from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) surveyed the site of the plane crash.

“The AAIB has launched a detailed investigation, and the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is conducting a parallel probe under international protocols, since the aircraft is American-made,” a statement released on Sunday said.

Indian media outlets have reported, citing sources, that officials from Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) – the US aviation safety agency – also visited the site.

Separately, a high-level committee set up by the Indian government to examine the reasons behind the crash is expected to hold its first meeting on Monday.

The committee will submit a preliminary report within three months, the Air India radio said,  and will propose new standard operating procedures (SOPs) to help prevent similar incidents in future.

As the investigation continues, families on the ground are still grappling with disbelief and trauma.

Less than a minute after taking off from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, the AI171 flight crashed into a doctors’ accommodation building at the BJ Medical College and Civil Hospital.

All but one of the 242 passengers and crew members were killed. Officials have also been trying to establish how many people were killed on the ground and continuing the slow process of matching DNA samples to confirm the victims’ identities.

Over the weekend, doctors said 270 bodies had been recovered from the site of the crash.

More than 90 victims have been identified  through DNA matching, Dr Rajnish Patel of Ahmedabad’s Civil Hospital said on Monday. He added that 47 of the identified bodies have been sent to their families.

Among the identified victims is Vijay Rupani, the former chief minister of Gujarat, whose funeral will be held on Monday. Rupani, whose political career spanned more than 50 years, will be laid to rest with full state honours in Rajkot city.

For many other families, the agonising wait continues.

Officials told the BBC that the identification process has been slow and painstaking, as many of the bodies were badly burned in the crash and are being processed in small batches.

Mistry Jignesh, waiting outside the hospital for updates on his niece, told the BBC on Saturday  that officials told him that it might take longer for them to hand over his niece’s remains as the search for bodies is still ongoing. He had earlier been told that the body would be handed over by Sunday, after the 72 hours it normally takes to complete DNA matching.

“When people are still missing, how can they complete the DNA process by tomorrow? What if my niece’s remains haven’t even been found? The wait is killing us,” he said.

(BBC)

Air India Flight AI171 travelling from India to London crashed within moments of take-off on Thursday, killing 241 passengers and crew, and more people on the ground.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which took off from the city of Ahmedabad, in western India, ploughed into a residential area, hitting a hospital complex and medical student hostel.

One passenger survived the disaster – a British national, who was sitting in seat 11A and who later told family he had no idea how he walked away.

It is not yet clear what caused the crash, which Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi described as “heartbreaking beyond words”.

Officials warned the death toll could rise in what was quickly described as one of the deadliest aviation disasters in India’s history.

Air India Flight AI171 departed Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at 13:39 local time (08:09 GMT), and was due to touch-down at London’s Gatwick Airport at 18:25 BST.

There were 230 passengers on board, including 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese citizens, one Canadian and 12 crew members.

The local police chief told the BBC that 204 bodies had been recovered so far – but it is not known how many of those victims were on the plane or were on the ground.

Images from the scene show debris scattered across a large crash zone, with parts of the aircraft embedded in buildings.

The extraordinary news that one person had survived the disaster quickly made international headlines, as the British national, Vishwashkumar Ramesh, was filmed limping towards an ambulance, with smoke billowing in the background.

“Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise… it all happened so quickly,” he told local media from hospital.

His cousin, Ajay Valgi, said  Ramesh called his family to say he was “fine”, but he does not know the whereabouts of his brother, also called Ajay, who was on the plane with him.

Thursday’s incident was the first fatal crash involving a 787 Dreamliner, first introduced in 2011.

Boeing said in a statement that it “stands ready” to support the investigation, which is being led by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau.

“We are in contact with Air India regarding Flight 171 and stand ready to support them. Our thoughts are with the passengers, crew, first responders and all affected,” the bureau said.

US and British investigators will travel to India, with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) saying it will assist Indian authorities.

India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said the aircraft issued a mayday call seconds after take-off.

It lost contact with air traffic control shortly thereafter, crashing just outside the airport’s perimeter.

The crash site lies within a medical campus with 10 specialised centres. The BBC’s Sachin Pithva described scenes of chaos, with rescue workers retrieving the remains of those who perished.

Thick smoke was still billowing from the buildings hours after the crash, and passengers’ passports were strewn around, he reported.

Gujarat’s Additional Chief Secretary for Health confirmed the aircraft struck the students’ hostel and staff quarters of Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College and Civil Hospital.

The search for schoolchildren swept away in floods in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province has resumed after being halted overnight, officials have said.

The children were on their way to school in the town of Mthatha when their bus was carried away in flood waters as it was crossing a bridge on Tuesday morning.

Officials said three students were later rescued, but it was unclear how many pupils were on the bus, which has since been found on a riverbank with no-one inside.

An unconfirmed report by private TV station Newzroom Afrika says the bodies of 10 children and the driver have now been found further downstream.