India plane crash death toll rises to 279 Police source

AHMEDABAD, India - Grieving families waited on June 14 for news after one of the deadliest air disasters in decades, with the toll rising to 279 people killed in the Indian passenger jet crash.

The Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner issued a mayday call shortly before it crashed around lunchtime on June 12, bursting into a fireball as it hit residential buildings.

On June 14, a police source said that 279 bodies had been recovered from the crash site in the northern Indian city of Ahmedabad in one of the worst plane disasters of the 21st century.

There was one survivor out of 242 passengers and crew on board the jet when it crashed, leaving the tailpiece of the aircraft jutting out of a hostel for medical staff.

At least 38 people were killed on the ground.

“I saw my child for the first time in two years, it was a great time,” said Mr Anil Patel, whose son and daughter-in-law had surprised him with a visit before boarding the Air India flight.

“And now, there is nothing,” he said, breaking down in tears. “Whatever the gods wanted has happened.”

Search for second black box

Distraught relatives of passengers have been providing DNA samples in Ahmedabad, with some having to fly to India to help the process.

The official casualty number will not be finalised until the slow process of DNA identification is completed.

Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian on board the flight, as well as 12 crew members.

Those killed ranged from a top politician to a teenage tea seller.

The lone survivor, Mr Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, said even he could not explain how he survived.