In June 2025 | The ruins of the crashed Air India aircraft raised a crane in Ahmedabad in Gujarat. | Photo Credit: Vijay Soneji
For the Khimani family in the Gujarat’s Kutch district, death hit twice – first when they made the last ceremonies for their son without his remains and again when his partially recovered body was returned a few days later, identified by DNA analysis.
Anil Laljibhai Khimani (35), Mason of the village of Dahisara in Bhuj, was confirmed as the last victim of 12 June Ahmedabad Air India by testing DNA. Gujarat reported the victim to 260, including 241 out of 242 people on board the Boeing Dreamliner. The remaining victims occurred on the ground.
Mr. Khimani was on his way to London to visit relatives. His wife and two young daughters survived him.
The family organized a symbolic cremation ceremony in their native village, uncertain whether its remnants would receive. The second and last ceremony was carried out on 28 June after the formal identification of his body by the Civil Hospital authorities a day earlier. The villagers, do not know that the DNA confirmation was still waiting for the first ceremony.
“We brought the body back to our native Dahisař and made the last ceremonies in the presence of our relatives and many good friends. It took two weeks to identify, but we are grateful that we could finally give him a dignified farewell,” Laljibhai Khimani, Anin’s father.
He dialed the delay and said, “First I gave a sample of DNA, but later we were told that another would be needed. My wife then gave her a sample. Since then we have been impatiently waiting for confirmation.”
Dreamliner Boeing 787-8 crashed into a residential area shortly after take-off from the international airport Sardar VallaBhbhai patel in Ahmedabad. Mr. Khimani’s death was among the last, which was formally confirmed through DNA.
The former ceremony, said the father of Mr. Khimani, was an emotional attempt to close in the middle of uncertainty.
Published – 2 July 2025 9:57
