Families hold funerals for victims of Air India crash

Wreckage of the crashed plane

Grieving families were due to hold funerals in India on Sunday for their relatives who were among at least 279 killed in one of the world’s worst plane crashes in decades.

Health officials have begun handing over the first passenger bodies identified through DNA testing, delivering them in white coffins in the western city of Ahmedabad.

“My heart is very heavy, how do we give the bodies to the families?” said Tushar Leuva, an NGO worker who has been helping with the recovery efforts.

There was just one survivor out of 242 passengers and crew on board the Air India jet when it crashed Thursday 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, who did not want to be named, told AFP they had been instructed not to open the coffin when they received it.

Witnesses reported seeing badly burnt bodies and scattered remains. Punch