Mangalore, May 23: An eerie silence enveloped the airport when a special Air India jet carrying relatives of those who perished in the crash touched down here Sunday morning, exactly 24 hours after the disaster.

The special aircraft arrived from Sharjah, carrying 21 relatives of those who died in the crash Saturday morning. The relatives were inconsolable as they made their way to various hospitals to identify the bodies.

“My cousin sister was on the flight with two children. Though family members have identified the bodies, we are taking a second look in the hope that it’s not them,” said one relative.

A senior official of Air India said two special flights were arranged for the benefit of relatives of victims. In addition, the organisation has pooled in its staff from Bengaluru and Mumbai to help the relatives identify the bodies of victims of the disaster.

“We have been arranging for vehicles to all relatives so that they don’t have to wait at the airport. They will also be assisted at the hospitals by our staff. While most of the family members reached various hospitals, those settled in the Gulf were flown in special flights,’’ an Air India official said.

Sources at the airport said that an Abu Dhabi-Muscat flight took off from the Mangalore airport Saturday evening and returned with the next of kin of the victims around 2.30 am.

“The airport was shut till Saturday evening. A Dubai-bound flight scheduled to take off Saturday night was rescheduled to Sunday night. Later in the evening, several unscheduled flights were allowed to land. The first special flight carrying relatives of the deceased landed around 2:30 am,’’ the official said.

The help desks at the airport received the family members and helped them in identification of the bodies. A family from Bhatkal in Udupi district was taken to hospitals to identify the bodies