Relatives lament slow support wait for remains after India crash

AHMEDABAD, India - More than three days after giving a DNA sample, Mr Imtiyaz Ali is enduring an anguished wait to receive the remains of his brother, who died in the Air India crash.

“My 72 hours are over, but I’ve not heard from them so far,” Mr Ali said in Ahmedabad, where relatives of victims have gathered since the air disaster.

All but one of the 242 people on board the plane died on June 12 when it slammed into a residential area, where at least 38 others were killed.

Health officials have said the process of matching blood samples with the DNA of victims will be slow, with just 47 identified by the evening of June 15.

Mr Ali, whose brother Javed was killed alongside his wife and two children, said he understood the delay and was more frustrated with the airline’s response.

“With Air India, the next day after this accident they should have appointed whoever they needed to ensure everything is available to us” for issues such as help with paperwork, he told AFP on June 15.

“Whatever it took, they should have done it within hours of the accident,” he said, a day after being appointed a support person by the airline.