Lawyer representing Air India families claims they were 'sent wrong remains' of those killed in the crash
Families of the Air India crash victims have claimed they have received the 'wrong remains' of their loved ones in a devastating identity mix-up.
On June 12, London-bound Air India flight 171 crashed a mere 30 seconds after take off from Ahmedabad airport in India.
The horrific catastrophe killed all but one of the 242 people onboard, as well as a further 19 people in the Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College and Civil Hospital that the jet smashed into before erupting into a giant fireball.
Miraculously, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who was sitting in seat 11A on the Boeing 787 plane managed to walk away from the wreckage, standing as the sole survivor of one of the world's worst aviation disasters in almost a decade.
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Now, the tragedy has taken another dark turn for the grieving families who claim the remains of the loved ones they have received have been misidentified before repatriation, according to the legal team representing them.
In one harrowing case, relatives had to abandon funeral plans after being informed the coffin contained the body of another unknown passenger, while in another, the 'commingled' remains of more than one person were placed in the same casket.
The bodies had to be separated before the burial could proceed, as per the Daily Mail.
While some of the dead have been cremated or buried in India, the remains of around 12 victims have been repatriated.
The mistakes came to light when Inner West London coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox tried to verify the DNA of the deceased with samples provided by the families.
James Healy-Pratt, an aviation lawyer representing many of the families in the UK, said he is urging the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to raise the issue with India's counterpart, Narendra Modi.
“The families deserve urgent answers and assurances about the whereabouts of their loved ones,” the attorney 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."
“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.”
In the case of the 'commingled' remains, Healy-Pratt said the remains had been separated, leaving one family 'in limbo' with 'no one to bury because it was the wrong person in their casket.'
"And if isn’t their relative, the question is, who is it in that coffin? Presumably it’s another passenger and their relatives have been given the wrong remains," he added.
"The coroner also has a problem because she has an unidentified person in her jurisdiction.”
The lawyer continued to claim the 'chain of custody' of the deceased has been 'unacceptably poor.'
In response, an anonymous airline official said Air India had not been responsible for identifying the remains, stating: "It was the hospital, they who were the ones who confirmed the next-of-kin matches," reports The Guardian.
Randhir Jaiswal, India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, commented: “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 added that the authorities had handled the identification process according to protocol and were 'handled with utmost professionalism and with due regard for the dignity of the deceased'.
Jaiswal concluded: "We are continuing to work with the UK authorities on addressing any concerns related to this issue.”
The news comes as a preliminary report published on July 10 said both of the jet's fuel switches had moved to the cut-off position immediately after departing, stopping the fuel supply to its engines.
UNILAD has contacted Air India and India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau for comment
Topics: Air India, World News, Plane, UK News, India
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