Air India crash: Death toll touches 270 in Ahmedabad, efforts to clear debris ongoing

Salvage teams recovered the black box of the ill-fated AI 171 flight on Friday, along with 29 more bodies from the wreckage of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, taking the death toll to 270 in one of the deadliest single-aircraft disaster in Indian aviation history. The bodies have been brought to the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad.

The rising casualty count—beyond the 241 passengers and crew confirmed dead on board—suggests that the remaining victims were likely individuals present on the campus of Ahmedabad’s BJ Medical College at the time of the crash. They are believed to include doctors, students, hospital staff, and local residents from the Meghaninagar area.

The authorities had earlier pegged the death toll at 265.


"Around 270 bodies have been brought to the civil hospital so far from the plane crash site," President of Junior Doctors association of BJ Medical College, Dr Dhaval Gameti, told PTI.

The process of identification of victims by matching the DNA samples is currently underway, and the bodies will be handed over to their relatives once the process is complete, he said.

The black box, containing the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), was found on the rooftop of the UG and PG students’ mess building within the medical college campus, Joint Commissioner of Police (Sector 1) Neeraj Badgujar said. The aircraft’s Emergency Locator Transmitter had been recovered Thursday night.

Search and recovery efforts were focused overnight on buildings that took the brunt of the crash, as well as surrounding areas. “We have sent 319 body parts, including complete and partial remains, for DNA matching to confirm the victims' identities,” a state government official said.

Besides the 241 victims on board, four casualties on the ground had been confirmed earlier—three doctors and the pregnant wife of a neurosurgery resident. On Friday, a fifth victim, MBBS student Jay Prakash Chaudhary, was identified by his family.

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) confirmed the recovery of the black box. Civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu also announced the find on social media, stating that the data would play a crucial role in identifying the cause of the crash.

Ahmedabad city police have registered a case of accidental death at the Meghaninagar police station and have begun an investigation. The first emergency call regarding the crash and fire was received at 1:44pm on Thursday, officials said.

The crash site—the Old IGP Campus—houses residential blocks for MBBS students and resident doctors of BJ Medical College, which is affiliated with the Civil Hospital. Many of the passengers and crew members were charred beyond recognition, and their remains have been taken to the Civil Hospital for identification.

While central agencies, including the National Investigation Agency (NIA), visited the site on Friday, officials said foul play has not been ruled out. However, the primary focus remains on collecting flight data and other evidence to determine whether technical or human error caused the crash.

With inputs from ToI