Ahmedabad, June 12 (IANS) On the first anniversary of the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, officials from the city’s Civil Hospital and police have detailed the emergency response, forensic operations, and multi-agency coordination that followed one of India’s deadliest aviation disasters.
The Air India Flight AI-171 crash occurred on June 12 last year shortly after take-off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. The London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed in the Meghaninagar area and struck the B.J. Medical College hostel and mess complex, triggering an intense fire and widespread destruction.
According to officials, 242 passengers and crew were on board, with only one survivor from the aircraft, while fatalities on the ground took the overall death toll to around 260. Officials also reported that the identification process ultimately accounted for all victims through DNA and visual methods.
Ahmedabad Civil Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Rakesh Joshi, speaking to IANS, said he was in the operation theatre performing a long seven-hour surgery when the incident unfolded. He said he received a call from the Chief Security Officer around 1:40 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. reporting heavy smoke in the campus quarters area.
He instructed immediate verification, but within seconds received confirmation that a plane had crashed. He recalled saying, “I handed over my surgery to Professor Jayshree and immediately changed and left,” after being informed that it was an international flight which had crashed directly over the medical college mess area.
Dr Joshi said he immediately alerted hospital teams through a group message, instructing those not engaged in critical patient care to report to the trauma centre as a mass casualty situation was developing.
Within minutes, multidisciplinary trauma teams were activated, including surgeons, anaesthetists, emergency medicine specialists, neurosurgeons and physicians, forming triage units to assess incoming patients.
“The first patient I encountered was a gardener with burn injuries who reported that the aircraft had fallen on the hostel mess. For the first 40-50 minutes, injured patients continued to arrive, including at least one individual who claimed to have been a passenger on the aircraft, confirming the scale of the incident,” he told IANS.
Emergency protocols were immediately activated, with operation theatres prepared, blood banks informed, and mass casualty wards opened.
However, Dr Joshi said that after roughly one hour, the inflow of injured survivors stopped entirely. Instead, severely burnt, unrecognisable bodies began arriving at the hospital. He said identification through conventional means became impossible, leaving DNA sampling as the only viable method.
“Under the supervision of forensic department head Dr Dharmendra Patel, and with additional government-deputed doctors, continuous post-mortem examinations were carried out. DNA samples were collected, labelled and sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory with case-specific identification numbers linked to the crash,” he said.
Relatives of victims were accommodated at B.J. Medical College and Kasauti Bhavan, where structured counselling arrangements were set up. He said, “Under Dr Meeta Khandelwal, DNA samples were also collected from relatives to enable matching with victim remains. This system allowed parallel processing of forensic identification and family support.”
He stated that the first DNA match was received within 48 hours of the crash. Once matches were confirmed, hospital teams contacted families directly, completed documentation, and arranged controlled access for identification and handover procedures.
“The entire identification and handover process continued for around 17 to 18 days,” he said.
According to his account, approximately 90-95 per cent of bodies were received within the first three to four hours at the hospital, while the remaining forensic identification continued over the following weeks. Dr Joshi stated that 254 victims were ultimately identified through DNA matching and six through facial identification, after which remains were handed over following legal formalities.
He also referred to the presence of around 242 people onboard the aircraft and confirmed that 241 fatalities occurred among passengers, with 19 additional deaths on the ground, as part of the overall toll.
He described the initial days as the most distressing period, with large numbers of relatives arriving at the hospital in shock, many unsure of the fate of their family members, particularly as several victims were students from the medical campus.
“The psychological pressure was immense, requiring continuous counselling and structured communication to manage uncertainty,” he recalled. Dr Joshi said the hospital, municipal corporation, police, forensic teams and NGOs worked in continuous coordination without interruption.
He added that no staff left duty on the day of the crash, with surgeries, post-mortems and administrative procedures continuing round the clock. He said, “It is an irreparable loss,” adding that only dignity, support and assistance could be provided to grieving families.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Sector 1) Neeraj Budgujar, who served as the crash-site in-charge for the first 72 hours, described the parallel emergency operation focused on securing the crash zone and preventing unauthorised access.
“I was alerted shortly after a crime conference had concluded when reports emerged of heavy smoke near the campus area. From my office, he saw smoke rising and immediately proceeded to the site. Soon after, I received confirmation that an international flight had crashed,” he told IANS.
At the site, he said firefighting operations were underway while the evacuation of bodies had already begun. He described the scene as one of extreme destruction, noting that the scale of the incident became fully apparent only upon arrival.
“My immediate responsibility was to cordon off the entire open area to prevent unauthorised entry and to protect victims’ belongings, including passports, jewellery, mobile phones and other valuables, from theft or loss. Securing the aircraft’s black box was also a priority,” he said.
He said multiple agencies, including CISF and Army personnel, were already present when police arrived. Once the majority of bodies were moved to the civil hospital, local police took control of the site, established barricades and cleared the area of civilians, including relatives searching for missing persons.
He added that coordination was required with investigating agencies such as the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), as well as arrangements for VVIP visits. “Police personnel remained deployed continuously for approximately 72 hours, with minimal rest, often working shifts of 18 to 20 hours,” Budgujar recalled.
Budgujar said officers ensured that no unauthorised person entered structurally unsafe buildings and that no belongings from the site were removed. He described additional pressure from large crowds, including victims’ families, missing persons’ relatives, and an extensive national and international media presence.
“Coordination was managed through the Police Commissioner’s office, with officers deployed across the crash site, hospital, and post-mortem facilities. Senior police officials, including Vidhi Chaudhary at the control room, Jaipal Rathod and Sharad Singhal in mortuary and hospital coordination roles, operated in parallel teams under central supervision,” he said.
He also described environmental conditions at the crash site, including intense heat, smoke, and the strong odour from burnt body remains, making operations extremely difficult.
Officers used wet cloths for protection and later received masks while working in hazardous conditions throughout the initial response phase. “No major injuries to police personnel were reported,” he confirmed to IANS.
Budgujar said training in disaster victim identification and black box recovery helped guide operations, particularly given the presence of foreign nationals on international flights and the need for structured identification and documentation.
Both officials described the broader operation as an unprecedented convergence of emergency response systems, involving hospitals, police, forensic experts, municipal authorities, civil aviation investigators and support organisations.
As the first anniversary is observed on Friday, their accounts underline not only the immediate scale of destruction but also the prolonged human, administrative and forensic effort that followed.
This was an operation that continued day and night for weeks and required coordinated functioning across every major civic and emergency institution in the city.
–IANS
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