Air India Tragedy: After the accident, rescue workers recovered 70 tolas of gold jewelry and Rs 50,000 cash from the debris; handed them over to the police

After the Ahmedabad plane crash, a huge amount of gold jewelry, and cash was also found during the recovery of bodies and other items from the debris. Let us tell you that Rajesh Patel is among the few people who reached the site of the Ahmedabad plane crash on June 12 for relief and rescue work. Rajesh took many dead and injured people to the ambulance. After this, he returned to the site. He collected jewelry and other valuables from the debris of the burning plane. Patel said that he collected about 70 tolas of gold jewelry, Rs 50000, and some US dollars from the accident site and handed them over to the police. Rajesh said that when this accident happened, he lived only 300 meters away from the accident site.

People were taken to the ambulance with the help of sarees and sheets.

Patel said, that when I came to know that the plane had crashed in the hostel premises of BJ Medical College, I immediately reached there in the hope of saving many people. But for the first 15 to 20 minutes we could not go close to the accident site. We could start rescue operations only after the fire was brought under control. As Patel and other volunteers did not have stretchers, they used old saris and sheets to carry the dead and injured to the ambulances. After the rescue operations were over, Patel started collecting the belongings of the people on board the plane.

These items were found in the debris.

He said we recovered about 70 tolas of gold jewellery, 8-10 silver items, some passports, a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, Rs 50,000 in cash, and 20 dollars from 10-15 burnt handbags. We handed them over to the police officer. Rajesh Patel is associated with the construction business. Patel was earlier a photographer and has also volunteered at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital after the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts. Two of his close friends died in that blast.

Valuables are being handed over to the families of the deceased.

Inspector DB Basia of Meghnagar Police Station said that his team is making a list of every valuable item found at the accident site. After the list is prepared, the items will be returned to the families of the victims in coordination with Air India. Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghvi had said on June 16 that every item found in the plane wreckage will be returned. He also shared a video in which police officers were seen handing over the gold jewelry of the deceased woman to her family. He said, 4-5 tola gold jewellery found from the body of Veenaben Agheda, worth about Rs 4.5 lakh, was returned to the family. The family praised the honesty and dedication of the police to the service. 

On June 12, Air India's Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed minutes after taking off from Ahmedabad airport. In this accident, 241 people on board the plane were killed while one passenger survived. Along with this, 29 people including five MBBS students were also killed on the ground.