Four days after the devastating crash of Air India flight AI-171 en route from Ahmedabad to London, authorities have confirmed that 144 DNA samples have been successfully matched as of noon Tuesday, according to Gujarat Minister of State for Home,

Three days after the crash, only 35 bodies had been handed over to relatives from an overall official death toll of 270.

DNA identification is the gold standard for identifying human remains, especially after mass fatality events in which bodies might not be easy to identify otherwise.