India plane crash death toll rises to 279

Grieving families waited Saturday for news after one of the deadliest air disasters in decades, with the toll rising to 279 people killed in the Indian passenger jet crash.

The Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner issued a mayday call shortly before it crashed around lunchtime on Thursday, bursting into a fireball as it hit residential buildings.

On Saturday, a police source said that 279 bodies had been recovered from the crash site in the northern Indian city of Ahmedabad, one of the worst plane disasters of the 21st century.

There was one survivor out of 242 passengers and crew on board the jet when it crashed, leaving the tailpiece of the aircraft jutting out of a hostel for medical staff.

At least 38 people were killed on the ground.

"I saw my child for the first time in two years, it was a great time," said Anil Patel, whose son and daughter-in-law had surprised him with a visit before boarding the Air India flight.

"And now, there is nothing," he said, breaking down in tears. "Whatever the gods wanted has happened."

- Search for black box -
Distraught relatives of passengers have been providing DNA samples in Ahmedabad, with some having to fly to India to help the process.

The official casualty number will not be finalised until the slow process of DNA identification is completed.

Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian on board the flight, as well as 12 crew members.

Those killed ranged from a top politician to a teenage tea seller.

The lone survivor, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, said even he could not explain how he survived.

"Initially, I too thought that I was about to die, but then I opened my eyes and realised that I was still alive," Ramesh, a British citizen, told national broadcaster DD News from his hospital bed.

Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said Friday that a flight data recorder, or black box, had been recovered, saying it would "significantly aid" investigations.

Forensic teams are still looking for the second black box, as they probe why the plane crashed after lifting barely 100 metres (330 feet) from the ground.

US planemaker Boeing said it was in touch with Air India and stood "ready to support them" over the incident, which a source close to the case said was the first crash for a 787 Dreamliner.

Survival and loss in plane disaster
Grieving families are mourning at least 279 killed when a London-bound passenger jet crashed in India, with the victims in Ahmedabad ranging from a top politician to a teenage tea seller.

One man on board the plane, which was carrying 242 passengers and crew, miraculously survived the fiery crash on Thursday afternoon.

But that lone British citizen was the only story of escape from the jet.

"I saw my child for the first time in two years, it was a great time," said Anil Patel, whose son and daughter-in-law had surprised him with a visit from Britain.

"And now, there is nothing," he said, breaking down in tears. "Whatever the gods wanted has happened."

Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian on board the flight bound for London's Gatwick airport, as well as 12 crew members.

At least 38 people were killed on the ground.

The nose and front wheel of the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner landed on a canteen building where medical students were having lunch.

Mohit Chavda, 25, a junior doctor in Ahmedabad, described how he escaped through choking black smoke after the plane smashed into the dining hall.

"There was almost zero visibility," Chavda said. "We were not able to see even who was sitting beside us -- so we just ran from there."

Scorch marks scar the buildings, where chunks of the plane were embedded into its walls.

- 'He caught fire' -
Among the dead was Vijay Rupani, 68, a senior member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party and former chief minister of Gujarat state.

But they also included teenager Akash Patni, who Indian media reported had been snoozing under a tree in the fierce heat of the day near his family's tea stall in Ahmedabad.

"He caught fire in front of my eyes," his mother Kalpesh Patni said, weeping as she talked to the Indian Express newspaper. "I won't be able to live without him."

Businessman Suresh Mistry, 53, said his daughter Kinal was a trained dancer, an excellent cook and a yoga enthusiast.

A chef in London, she had been visiting her family in India and postponed her flight to stay a few more days.

Mistry described the last time he spoke to her, when she called to say the plane was about to take off and he could head back home without any worry.

He said he couldn't stop thinking about how, if she had stuck to her original plan, "she would have been alive".