Authorities at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital have so far identified eleven victims of the June 12 Air India plane crash through DNA testing and started the process to hand over the bodies to their relatives, officials said on Saturday.
When the prime minister was offering floral tributes to Patel, flower petals were also showered on the world's tallest statue by an Indian Air Force helicopter.
At least 265 bodies were sent to the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital for post-mortem after the crash on Thursday. Of these, only six victims were identified as their faces were intact, inspector Chirag Gosai said.
The giant statue of Sardar Vallabhai Patel is most impressive and a trip to the viewing gallery on top is the high point of a trip to Kevadia, Gujarat.
Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah said Pakistan would not have been holding a part of Kashmir and Article 370 would not have existed had Sardar Vallabhai Patel handled the Kashmir issue.
Families of victims of the Air India plane crash have hired a US law firm to explore legal options, seeking answers and accountability.
Here is a look at the sequence of events leading to the deadly crash:
Authorities are carrying out DNA tests to establish the identity of the victims as many bodies were charred beyond recognition or badly damaged in the deadly June 12 crash.
'70-80 per cent of the operations are carried out by the SDRF...We also aim to secure the area to make sure that further damage does not take place'
"My husband called me at 1.14pm to tell me his meeting is over and that he is on his way home. However, when he did not return, I called up on his phone but it was switched off. After police was intimated, the last location of his mobile phone showed he was 700 metres away from the crash site," she said.
Teams have been formed and assigned to individual families with a rank of a deputy collector or tehsildar rank officer. Bodies will be handed over to the families and taken in ambulance to the village or district with a police pilot, Pandey said.
The east-west connector, earlier known as the Carnac Bridge and named after former Bombay Province governor James Rivett Carnac, who held the office from 1839 to 1841, has been rechristened as 'Sindoor Bridge' (after Operation Sindoor).
'Whole Sports Complex is Sardar Patel Sports Enclave. Only the name of one Cricket Stadium, within that complex has been named as #NarendramodiStadium'
Efforts are on recover the black box of the Air India flight AI 171 which crashed in Ahmedabad as its analysis will provide vital clues about what triggered the disaster, said police and Fire Brigade officials on Friday.
A local who resides near the AI-171 crash site said that people rescued injured students from the BJ Medical College. He added that people were alive when they rescued them, but two died on their way to the hospital.
The area around the crash site is densely populated.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram fell unconscious at the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad on Tuesday and was taken to hospital. Sources said he probably fainted due to the heat after a hectic day. His son Karti later said on X that his father is fine and is being examined by doctors. The incident occurred during a prayer meeting at the ashram. Chidambaram was carried to an ambulance by other leaders. Earlier in the day, he attended the extended Congress Working Committee meeting at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Memorial.
The Air India plane AI-171 from Ahmedabad to London crashed immediately after take-off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Ahmedabad airport on Thursday, as per the Gujarat State Police Control Room.
Commerce Minister Anand Sharma on Tuesday declined Narendra Modi's invitation for an event on Sardar Patel, suggesting that the Gujarat chief minister's motives were not sincere and the name of the great leader was being misused for partisan political agenda.
As per Ahmed Patel's wishes, he was buried next to the graves of his parents.
'It's important for India to think about areas where it wants the US to move.' 'We can be far more innovative in what we ask the US.' 'Given that there's a package deal, why not do it?'
Bhoomi Chauhan, a resident of Gujarat's Bharuch, narrowly escaped death when she missed Thursday's ill-fated flight which crashed, claiming the lives of 241 people on board the Boeing 787-8, Air India flight 171, including 12 crew members, Air India confirmed post-midnight on Friday.
There has been no official information about his condition or whereabouts, his sister said.
Neither anyone from the airline (Air India), nor from the government has contacted them so far, he said.
Speaking about the building in which the plane crashed, the eyewitness said, "It is a residential building, doctors live there."
'I have always said that Hardik worked for his own interest and not for the cause of the Patidars.' 'People didn't believe what I was saying then, but now the entire community believes what I have always said.'
On the one-month anniversary of the Air India flight 171 crash that killed 241 passengers and 19 on the ground, relatives of passengers expressed renewed anxieties as they saw loved ones depart on the same route.
The Gujarat police on Tuesday detained Sardar Patel Group head Lalji Patel in connection with violence during "jail bharo" agitation of Patidar community held last month.
Several foreign experts were seen scouting the crash site for the last two days, checking the debris to find clues.
An official expressed hope that the DNA profiling all the victims will be completed by either Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning.
"Modi is a very popular leader. People have given him massive mandate. But this mandate is not a licence to act irresponsibly. Patel and Nehru also had mandate of the people to lay the foundation stone of the country's development," the Sena said.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi intensified his attack on the Election Commission, accusing them of 'vote chori' and warning of action if the INDIA bloc forms the government. He alleged a 'new special package' for Bihar, named SIR (Special Intensive Revision), is a 'new form of vote theft'.
rediffGURU Mayank Chandel offers advice to students interested in a careers in science or engineering after class 10 and 12.
T20 Mumbai final: Teams observe minute's silence, wear black armbands for Ahmedabad crash victims
An upcoming book by investigative journalist Chitra Subramaniam claims that senior Indian bureaucrats "tutored" Bofors officials in a secret meeting in 1987 on how to absolve then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of all blame in the infamous bribery scandal. The book, "Boforsgate," details how the meeting was held to cover up the alleged Rs 64 crore bribe in a Rs 1,437 crore deal for Howitzer guns, and how Indian officials provided advice on concealing information from investigators. Subramaniam's revelations are based on documents provided to her by the Swedish head of police investigating the Bofors case.
It is India's worst aviation disaster since the 2020 Kozhikode crash.
'Modi's charisma may have weakened as last year's Lok Sabha poll results showed but in the eyes of the Sangh Parivar, it has not waned.' 'Minus a strong BJP government at the Centre for another decade and more, there is apprehension that an anti-Hindutva government could reverse many of the ideological gains that the Modi dispensation has achieved through its three terms,' points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Aviation expert Captain Mohan Ranganathan claims human error led to the Air India plane crash and calls for more transparency in the AAIB's preliminary report.
Air India pilots said Ahmedabad airport has long been known for bird activity near the runway, which could have contributed to the incident.
The Indian diaspora in London has been rallying around to coordinate fundraisers to support the UK-based family members of the Ahmedabad plane crash victims, including urgent assistance for two orphaned children.
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