About half an hour before an Air India aircraft crashed into a college hostel in Ahmedabad, Ravi Thakor, the canteen cook, and his wife had stepped out to deliver lunchboxes—leaving behind their two-year-old daughter and his mother. Now, both are missing. Thakor clings to hope for what he calls a "second miracle," similar to the remarkable survival of the only passenger among the 242 people on board.

At first, Thakor mistook the loud explosion on Thursday for a gas cylinder blast. But when he turned around, he saw the building he had just left engulfed in flames. Ever since, he has been desperately searching hospitals and morgues for any trace of his mother and daughter. The police have registered it as a missing persons case. “If one person from the plane could survive, maybe my mother and daughter can too,” Thakor told Reuters, standing outside a hospital, visibly shaken. His wife, Lalita, stood silently by his side.

"We know the odds are slim, but we’re still holding on," he added. The crash killed at least 271 people — 241 were passengers and crew, while the rest were mostly people in the hostel building. Thakor and his wife submitted their DNA samples to help identify the deceased, but have yet to receive any results.

Families across the city have been waiting for days to claim the remains of loved ones, as DNA testing and identification continue slowly. According to hospital official Rajnish Patel, only 32 of the deceased have been matched so far. When the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed into the canteen, many students were eating. Steel cups and plates with uneaten food still sat on the few intact tables when Reuters visited.

Thakor recalled that his mother was still preparing food when he and his wife stepped out that day. Just before leaving, he had rocked his daughter to sleep on a wooden swing. “Maybe someone picked her up and took her away in the confusion,” he said. Of all 242 passengers, the only one to survive was 40-year-old Viswashkumar Ramesh, who crawled out through a damaged hatch with only minor injuries.