A Brampton family has left for Ethiopia in hopes of finding the remains of six family members who died in the Ethiopian Airlines crash last Sunday.
Manant Vaidya left from Pearson Airport on Saturday morning with his wife Hiral and their two children.
“My main goal is to get the body remains so that is the reason (why) I am going right now,” Manant told Global News.
“I’m just hoping there might be some DNA sampling done to identify the bodies.”
Manant said he is planning on going to Ethiopia for two days, where he will visit the crash site and get whatever remains he can, though a report on Saturday indicated that identification of some remains may take up to six months.
“After that, I plan on going to India for the final rituals of my parents and … my sister, brother-in-law and my two nieces,” he said.
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed shortly after taking off from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, on March 10.
All 157 passengers died in the crash, including 18 Canadians.
Manant’s father, 73-year-old Pannagesh Vaidya; his mother, 67-year-old Hansini Vaidya; his sister, 37-year-old Kosha Vaidya; her 45-year-old husband, Prerit Dixit; and their children, 14-year-old Ashka Dixit and 13-year-old Anushka Dixit, were killed.
“It’s still unbelievable for me to even digest the news that they are no more,” Manant said.
“I am totally broken right now.”
Manant said he is in constant touch with Ethiopian and Canadian officials and will be travelling to the crash site Sunday morning.
“At this time, I think I just want to get the closure and the answers to all my questions on what happened, why it happened,” he said.
Manant left from Pearson Airport almost exactly one week after he dropped off his family members at the airport as they began their travels to Ethiopia.
In an interview with Global News earlier this week, Manant said that was the last time he saw them.
The exact cause of the crash has yet to be determined, but suspicions of a technical failure have resulted in the grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX 8 planes throughout much of the world.
WATCH: Manant and Hiral Vaidya speak to Global News earlier this week about their relatives lost in Ethiopian Airlines crash — ‘I have no one left’
—With files from Nick Westoll and Catherine McDonald
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