A black box has been recovered from the wreckage of the Air India passenger plane which crashed into a residential area of India's Ahmedabad city yesterday, killing at least 265 people on board and on the ground.
Rescue teams with sniffer dogs are combing the crash site of the plane, which was bound for London after taking off.
A committee formed to investigate the root cause of the Air India crash will report within three months, the Indian government's ministry of civil aviation has said.
The committee will have access to flight data, cockpit voice recordings and maintenance records.
"A high level multi-disciplinary committee is constituted for examining the causes leading to the crash," a statement said.
"The Committee will examine the existing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and guidelines issued to prevent and handle such occurrences and suggest comprehensive guidelines for dealing with such instances in the future.
"The Committee will not be a substitute to other enquiries being conducted by relevant organisations but will focus on formulating SOPs for preventing and handling such occurrences in the future."
One man aboard the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner - carrying 242 passengers and crew - miraculously survived yesterday's crash, which left the tailpiece of the aircraft jutting out of the second floor of a hostel for medical staff from a nearby hospital.
The nose and front wheel landed on a canteen building where students were having lunch, witnesses said.
The plane crashed less than a minute after takeoff, around lunchtime yesterday, after lifting barely 100 metres from the ground.
The plane issued a mayday call and "crashed immediately after takeoff", the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Kanan Desai said that 265 bodies had so far been counted - suggesting at least 24 people died on the ground - but the toll may rise as more body parts are recovered.
"The official number of deceased will be declared only after DNA testing is completed," Home Minister Amit Shah said in a statement last night, adding that "families whose relatives are abroad have already been informed, and their DNA samples will be taken".
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited the devastated neighbourhood where Air India flight 171 went down, described the crash as "heartbreaking beyond words".
He met Mr Ramesh in hospital, the sole survivor of the Air India plane crash.
Mr Ramesh said he could hardly believe he was alive as he recounted his escape out of a broken emergency exit.
"I don't believe how I survived. For some time I thought I was also going to die," 40-year-old Ramesh told Indian state broadcaster DD News from his hospital bed
"But when I opened my eyes, I realised I was alive and I tried to unbuckle myself from the seat and escape from where I could. It was in front of my eyes that the air hostess and others (died)."
He was travelling with his brother Ajay, who had been seated in a different row, members of his family have said.
"The side of the plane I was in landed on the ground, and I could see that there was space outside the aircraft, so when my door broke I tried to escape through it and I did," Mr Ramesh said.
"The opposite side of the aircraft was blocked by the building wall so nobody could have come out of there."
Mr Ramesh suffered burns and bruises and has been kept under observation, an official at the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad said.
"His escape ... and without any grievous injury, was nothing short of a miracle. He also realises that and is a bit shaken by the trauma of it too," the official said.
Mr Ramesh said the plane seemed to come to a standstill in midair for a few seconds shortly after take-off and the green and white cabin lights were turned on.
He said he could feel the engine thrust increasing but then the plane "crashed with speed into the hostel".
At the family home in Leicester, central England, Ramesh's cousin Hiren Kantilal said they had spoken with him via videocall that morning and relatives were urgently trying to make arrangements to travel to India.
Asked about Mr Ramesh's brother, Mr Kantilal said: "We can't describe in the words, we are totally heartbroken."
The airline said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese, and a Canadian on board the flight bound for London's Gatwick airport, as well as 12 crew members.
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In Ahmedabad, disconsolate relatives of passengers gathered today at an emergency centre to give DNA samples so their loved ones could be identified.
Ashfaque Nanabawa, 40, said he had come to find his cousin Akeel Nanabawa, who had been aboard with his wife and three-year-old daughter. They had spoken as his cousin sat in the plane, just before takeoff.
"He called us and he said: 'I am in the plane and I have boarded safely and everything was okay'. That was his last call."
Ahmedabad, the main city in India's Gujarat state, is home to around eight million people and its busy airport is surrounded by densely packed residential areas.
US planemaker Boeing said it was in touch with Air India and stood "ready to support them" over the incident, which a source close to the case said was the first crash for a 787 Dreamliner.
The UK and US air accident investigation agencies announced they were dispatching teams to support their Indian counterparts.
Tata Group, owners of Air India, offered financial aid of 10 million rupees (€101,000) to "the families of each person who has lost their life in this tragedy", as well as funds to cover medical expenses of those injured.
India has suffered a series of fatal air crashes, including a 1996 disaster when two jets collided mid-air over New Delhi, killing nearly 350 people.
In 2010, an Air India Express jet crashed and burst into flames at Mangalore airport in southwest India, killing 158 of the 166 passengers and crew on board.
Experts said it was too early to speculate on what may have caused yesterday's crash.
India's airline industry has boomed in recent years with Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), last month calling it "nothing short of phenomenal".
The growth of its economy has made India and its 1.4 billion people the world's fourth-largest air market - domestic and international - with IATA projecting it will become the third biggest within the decade.
