New Delhi: A filmmaker, who was just 700 metres away from the Air India plane crash site when the tragedy struck, has been missing since the last week’s horrific incident. Mahesh Kalawadia, also known as Mahesh Jirawala, went to meet someone at Law Garden area on June 12 and has been untraceable since then. Mahesh, a resident of Naroda, is a director of music albums.
The family of the filmmaker has submitted DNA samples after he went missing. The Ahmedabad-London flight crashed into a campus of a medical college in Meghaninagar, seconds after taking off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, killing 241 out of 242 onboard and more than 20 people on the ground.
According to Mahesh’s phone location, he was 700 metres away from the crash site on Thursday afternoon. The filmmaker’s wife, Hetal, said that they have submitted DNA samples to check if he was among killed on the ground following the crash.
“My husband called me at 1.14 pm to tell me his meeting is over and that he is returning home. However, when he did not come back, I called up on his phone but it was switched off. After police was informed, the last location of his mobile phone showed he was 700 metres away from the crash site,” his wife said, PTI reported.
“His phone got switched off around 1.40pm (a minute after the ill-fated flight took off). His scooter and mobile phone are missing,” she said, adding that her husband would never take that route to come home.
As several bodies were burnt beyond recognition or damaged otherwise following the crash, DNA tests are being conducted by authorities to establish the identity of victims of the horrific tragedy. So far, more than 80 victims, including former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, have been identified through DNA tests, while 33 bodies have been handed over to kin.
