Air India crash: Forensic hurdle in identifying children under 6 as molars not developed

The AI-171 flight had 13 children under the age of 12

A family of three – Akeel Nanabawa (36), Hannaa Vorajee (31) and their four-year-old daughter Sara Nanabawa -- was among those killed in the fatal Air India plane crash that took place last week.

Sara’s body was identified a week after the Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed, pointing towards the difficulty in identifying minors.

The tragedy struck soon after the London-bound Air India flight took off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad. The plane was carrying 242 passengers of which only one person survived while over 30 people died on ground.

The AI-171 flight had 13 children under the age of 12, according to an Indian Express report citing the airline manifest. This included three children who had not yet turned the age of two.

Dr Jayasankar Pillai, a forensic odontologist with Government Dental College, Gujarat, spoke to the Indian Express about the difficulty in using DNA technology to recognise minor victims in case of such a disaster. “In children, the body mass is less and so the tissue damage and the exposure of long bones to heat is more. Teeth, though, can withstand heat as they are more robust,” he was quoted as saying.

He added that the complications grow further in case of minors. “DNA can be extracted from any tooth in children, but the front teeth cannot be used as heat degrades them in case of fire accidents. So we take DNA from molars,” he explained.

Pillai and his colleagues have reportedly been working non-stop to extract DNA from the victims’ teeth so that the remains can be identified quickly.

“Dental DNA is the fastest way to identify (the dead). It speeds up the matching process. So, we are here to help in the post-mortem,” Pillai was quoted by The Print.

He told The Indian Express: “In children aged less than six years, we can’t get a permanent molar… They mostly have milk teeth, and sometimes even those are destroyed as the arch is very small. So we make an incision in the jaw and try to get the permanent molar developing inside.”

As of Thursday, 211 victims have been identified through DNA matching while 189 bodies handed over to the families. "Till Thursday morning, 211 DNA samples have been matched, and 189 bodies handed over to respective families," Ahmedabad Civil Hospital's medical superintendent Dr Rakesh Joshi told news agency PTI.