Families Hold Funerals for Victims of Air India Crash

Grieving families held funerals on Sunday for their relatives who were among at least 279 killed in one of the world's worst plane crashes in decades, people aware of the matter said.

- Agencies

AHMEDABAD:

Health officials have begun handing over the first passenger bodies identified through DNA testing, delivering them in white coffins in Gujarat's Ahmedabad.

"My heart is very heavy, how do we give the bodies to the families?" said Tushar Leuva, an NGO worker who was part of the recovery efforts.

There was just one survivor out of 242 passengers and crew on board the Air India jet when it crashed on June 12 into a residential area of Ahmedabad, killing at least 38 people on the ground.

"How will they react when they open the gate? But we'll have to do it," Leuva told AFP at the mortuary on Saturday.

One victim's relative on condition of anonymity told AFP that they had been instructed not to open the coffin when they receive it.

Around 20 to 30 mourners gathered at a crematorium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, chanting prayers in a funeral ceremony for Megha Mehta, a passenger who had been working in London.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner erupted into a fireball when it went down moments after takeoff, smashing into buildings used by medical staff.