Families of the victims of the Air India crash which took place on June 12, killing all but one of the 242 people onboard, are now saying they were sent the ‘wrong remains’ of their loved ones.
The crash happened seconds after take-off
Air India flight 171 was bound to London from Ahmedabad airport in India when it crashed only 30 seconds after take-off.
Only one person onboard the plane survived, with 241 people losing their lives as well as 19 more killed on the ground.
The passenger in 11A made it
Of those who were on the flight, one passenger in seat 11A, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, miraculously survived one of the worst aviation disasters in almost a decade.
The grieving families were sent remains
Following the tragedy, grieving families were sent the remains of what they thought were their loved ones, but many are claiming they were sent the wrong remains.
A legal team representing the families says they received remains that were misidentified before repatriation.
There are many horrific cases
Among the horrific cases of people receiving the wrong remains of their loved ones, relatives had to cancel funeral plans after being told that the body inside the coffin was that of another unknown passenger.
In another case, the ‘commingled’ remains of more than one person were put in the same casket, per the Daily Mail.
This was obvious when DNA samples were compared
The harrowing mistakes regarding misidentified remains came to light when Inner West London coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox attempted to verify the DNA of the deceased using samples given by their families.
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Aviation lawyer James Healy-Pratt, who is representing many of the families in the UK said he is urging British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to bring up the issue with Indian PM Narendra Modi.
The lawyer made the issue clear
“The families deserve urgent answers and assurances about the whereabouts of their loved ones,” Healy-Pratt said.
“I’ve been sitting down in the homes of these lovely British families over the last month, and the first thing they want is their loved ones back.”
The attorney went on about the issues families are facing
“But some of them have got the wrong remains and they are clearly distraught over this. It has been going on for a couple of weeks [and] I think these families deserve an explanation,” Healy-Pratt added.
He also said that in the case of ‘commingled’ remains, they had been separated, leaving one grieving family ‘in limbo’ with ‘no one to bury because it was the wrong person in their casket.’
An Air India official said they’re not responsible
According to reports by The Guardian, an anonymous Air India official said it had not been the responsibility of the airline to identify the remains, saying, “It was the hospital, they who were the ones who confirmed the next-of-kin matches.”
India’s External Affairs spokesperson commented
India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, also made a comment.
He said, “We have seen the report and have been working closely with the UK side from the moment these concerns and issues were brought to our attention.”
He said they identified people based on protocol
Jaiswal added that the authorities had carried out the identification process according to protocol and were “handled with utmost professionalism and with due regard for the dignity of the deceased.”
“We are continuing to work with the UK authorities on addressing any concerns related to this issue,” he concluded.
