Ahmedabad, India
CNN
–
Yesterday at Ahmedabad airport, Sangheta Gauswami stuck to her one child. She saw her 19-year-old son from her home in West India in Gujarat and was proud to begin a new chapter at a university in London.
Now, less than 24 hours later, she sits in the same clothes she had worn for the breakup, frozen in shock and sadness.
Her son, Sunket, was one of 242 people on the Air India Flight AI171, and jumped out of the air shortly after takeoff.
Three officials from India’s National Disaster Response Force told CNN that flight recorders from the fateful flights were deployed on Friday.
Boeing’s Dreamliner crashed into a medical college hostel, killing passengers, crews and people on the ground, bringing death casualties to at least 290 people, one of India’s most deadly plane crash drops in decades.
For hours, Gauswami stuck to the faint hope that Sankett had somehow brought it to life. But by Thursday night, Hope had given way to heartbreak as he faced something unimaginable.
“We had no news,” she choked and sat with her sister. “We keep asking, but no one has anything to say to us.”
DNA samples have been collected from over 190 relatives at Ahmedabad Municipal Hospital and have been verified against recovery agencies from the scene of the collision. This is a painful process that can take up to 72 hours, according to the official Hashitgosabi of the state that oversees the business.
Grief fills the hospital corridors as the family is working on losing a loved one. At one horn, the cry of an elderly woman pierced the quiet sobs of another.
The sadness on Friday is in stark contrast to the confusion a day ago when relatives rushed to the hospital in hopes of their loved one alive.
Manisha Thapa’s family sat smashed after learning of the plane crash and rushed from their home in the eastern city of Patna on their first flight. I know very well that the 27-year-old is in the crew of a cabin in flight.
“I was talking to her a day ago,” her mother says.
“We talk every day. She lets us know that we can’t speak because she’s on a long flight.”
Manisha’s father has not stopped crying since giving her DNA samples on Friday morning.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Ahmedabad on Friday to inspect the crash site and meet the only survivor of the British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh.
Ramesh’s story is welcomed as nothing more than a miracle. The video of him walking in a bloody shirt to help crash the victim, as well as lying in the hospital with some cuts and bruises, has been widely streaming on social media.
“At first I thought I was going to die…I realized I was still alive and looked at the opening near my seat. I was able to unleash my buckle.
“Everyone around me was dead or almost dying. I still don’t understand how I live.”
The agency’s immediate focus will be on checking the number of victims and providing support to the victim’s family, but attention will soon be the cause of the crash.
The US National Road Safety Commission said it will lead a team heading to India to help investigate local government conflicts. The British Air Accident Investigation Division officially provided assistance to Indian authorities after the crash.