Lot of dead bodies; very difficult to identify: Relative of passengers onboard crashed London-bound plane

Tanvir Malik, a relative of two passengers on the ill-fated flight, shared his distressing experience, highlighting the challenges in identifying the victims amidst the chaos.

"I am from Baroda. I dropped my parents-in-law off around 11 am and returned to Baroda," Malik recounted. "After returning, I saw the news and enquired about the flight. I came to know that it was the same flight they had boarded. There are a lot of dead bodies, and it is very difficult to identify them. My parents-in-law were flying to the UK to meet my sister-in-law."

The crash of flight AI171 occurred shortly after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad as it rammed into doctors' hostels in the Meghani Nagar area in the afternoon.

Another relative from Bikaner, Rajasthan, expressed similar despair.

"My brother was also onboard the flight that crashed today, Abhinav Padhiyar. He was my uncle's son. He had come here from London because his maternal uncle had passed away. He had been here for a month. He shifted to London last year. My uncle went there to drop him off today. Within 10 minutes of that, we learnt about the crash," the relative said.

The incident affected not only the passengers and their families but also the medical students and hostel residents.

Dr. Rohan Krishnan, Chief Patron of the FAIMA Doctors Association, stated, "We have got information that the aeroplane crashed in the premises of BJ Medical College. There is damage to the MBBS students' hostel and the residential block of super-speciality doctors. There were many MBBS students there, as it happened during lunchtime. We have received information about injuries to 50 people. Five people could not be identified yet. The family of the Resident Doctors also sustained injuries. The authorities are working in full swing to identify the bodies and get the exact number of people who have died."

The London-bound flight, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, carrying 242 people, including 12 crew members, crashed shortly after it took off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport this afternoon, and rammed into a doctors' hostel in the Meghani Nagar area in Ahmedabad. As per DGCA, the crash occurred at approximately 1:30 PM IST.

As per Air India, among the 230 passengers, 169 were Indians, 53 British nationals, one Canadian, and seven Portuguese nationals onboard the AI171 flight to Gatwick in London.