Concerns over scavenging: Ahmedabad Police enlist animal rescuers to relocate stray dogs from AI 171 crash site

Ahmedabad: The city police have taken help from animal rescue teams to capture and relocate stray dogs from the Air India AI 171 crash site. This follows concerns that the dogs scavenged human remains, hindering recovery and identification and compromising investigation integrity. The May 12 crash killed all but one of the 242 people on board the London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner and at least 38 on the ground.

The dogs around the crash site are in a bad condition and they are scavenging for food, said a senior police official. "The search operation is still on, and there are several human remains still being found every day. We have noticed that the dogs on site are eating the human remains and entering the crash site," he said. "We have to rehabilitate them for their protection as well as to maintain the sanctity of the investigation."

Some of the dogs also appeared distressed, prompting authorities to act swiftly. Officials said the priority is to ensure that the animals receive proper care while also preventing any contamination of the crash site.


Rescuers deployed since Friday
Naresh Rajput, head of the Cattle Nuisance Control Department of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, said his department is involved. "We have so far rescued four dogs from the crash site and brought them to our shelter at Danilimda so that they don't disturb the site," Rajput told ET. Personnel from his department have been working at the site from Friday.

Meanwhile, search teams continue to pull out human remains from the debris of the BJ Medical College hostel building destroyed in the crash and the surrounding areas. They recovered a body on Sunday, three days after the crash.

On Monday, at least 15 human remains were found at the site. These discoveries highlight the challenges for search teams in ensuring complete and respectful recovery of the human remains.

Scavenging animals complicate victim identification and debris clearing. Authorities manage the cordoned-off site to facilitate recovery and maintain public health and investigative protocols.

99 samples matched
As of Monday, DNA samples of 99 victims have been matched, and 64 bodies, including that of former Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani, have been handed over to their families. The process of identifying remains is painstaking, often taking up to 72 hours for DNA matching, due to their condition.