Just yesterday at Ahmedabad airport, Sangeeta Gauswami clung tightly to her only child, her heart swelling with pride as she saw off her 19-year-old son from their home in the western Indian state of Gujarat, to begin a new chapter at university in London. <\/p>\n
Now, less than 24 hours later, she sits frozen in shock and grief, in the same clothes she wore for that farewell \u2013 her world upended by a devastating crash. <\/p>\n
Her son, Sanket, was among the 242 people aboard Air India flight AI171, which plunged from the sky just seconds after take-off \u2013 leaving only one survivor, and hundreds of shattered families. <\/p>\n
The Boeing Dreamliner crashed into a medical college hostel, killing passengers, crew and people on the ground, bringing the death toll to at least 290 \u2013 one of India\u2019s deadliest plane crashes in decades. <\/p>\n
For hours, Gauswami clung to the faintest hope that Sanket had somehow made it out alive. But by Thursday night, hope had given way to heartbreak as she faced the unimaginable: offering her DNA to help identify her only child among the dead. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have had no news,\u201d she chokes out, sat with her sister, who is also crying. \u201cWe keep asking but no one will tell us.\u201d <\/p>\n
DNA samples have been collected from more than 190 relatives at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital and are being verified against retrieved bodies from the crash site. It\u2019s an agonizing process that could take up to 72 hours, according to state official Harshit Gosavi, who is overseeing the operation. <\/p>\n
Grief fills the hospital hallways as families grapple with the loss of loved ones. In one corner, an elderly woman\u2019s cries pierce the quiet sobs of others. <\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s sorrow is a stark contrast with the chaos of a day earlier, when relatives rushed to the hospital in the hope of finding their loved ones alive. <\/p>\n
Manisha Thapa\u2019s family sits shattered after rushing from their home in the eastern city of Patna on the first flight they could find after learning of the plane crash \u2013 knowing very well that the 27-year-old was among the cabin crew on the flight. <\/p>\n
\u201cI had spoken to her one day ago,\u201d her mother says, voice trembling as she wipes away tears with a tissue offered by her daughter\u2019s friend. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe speak daily. She had called to let me know we won\u2019t be able to talk because she would be on a long flight.\u201d <\/p>\n
Manisha\u2019s father hasn\u2019t stopped weeping since he gave his DNA sample Friday morning. <\/p>\n
India\u2019s Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Ahmedabad Friday, inspecting the crash site and meeting the sole survivor, British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh. <\/p>\n
Ramesh\u2019s story is being hailed as nothing short of a miracle. Video of him walking to help crash victims with a bloodstained shirt, and lying in hospital with a few cuts and bruises, are circulating widely on social media. <\/p>\n
\u201cAt first, I thought I was going to die\u2026 I realized I was still alive and saw an opening near my seat. I managed to unbuckle myself. I used my leg to push through the opening and crawled out,\u201d he told Indian state broadcaster DD News. <\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone around me was either dead or dying. I still don\u2019t understand how I\u2019m alive.\u201d <\/p>\n
While the authorities\u2019 immediate focus is on confirming the number of casualties and providing support to the victims\u2019 families, attention will soon turn to what caused the crash. <\/p>\n
The US National Transportation Safety Board said it will lead a team that is heading to India to assist local authorities\u2019 probe into the crash. The UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch has also formally offered its assistance to Indian authorities, following the crash. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Just yesterday at Ahmedabad airport, Sangeeta Gauswami clung tightly to her only child, her heart swelling with pride as she saw off her 19-year-old son from their home in the western Indian state of Gujarat, to begin a new chapter at university in London. Now, less than 24 hours later, she sits frozen in shock…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}