Families received mixed remains of Air India crash victims, says UK lawyer
According to James Healy-Pratt, a lawyer representing 20 bereaved British families, DNA tests have confirmed that one casket returned to the UK contained remains from multiple individuals, while another family was given the remains of someone entirely different, AFP reported.
The tragic crash occurred on June 12, when an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner bound for London crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad.
All 241 passengers and crew on board were killed, including 52 British nationals and 169 Indian citizens. Several people on the ground also lost their lives. Only one passenger, British citizen survived the accident.
Healy-Pratt told the UK's Press Association that a British coroner's investigation uncovered serious errors in the identification and repatriation process.
'In the first two caskets that were repatriated, there was co-mingling of DNA that did not match either of the deceased the families believed they were receiving,' he said.
'In one case, the coroner was able to determine that the loved one was not at all who the family thought they were burying.'
One grieving relative, Miten Patel, told the BBC that his mother's casket contained "other remains" in addition to her body. Shobhana Patel and her husband perished in the crash.
'People were under pressure, and we understand that,' Patel said. 'But there has to be a level of accountability. You have to ensure you're sending the right bodies home.'
The Daily Mail was first to report the mix-up, citing two cases where families were mistakenly given the wrong remains.
Meanwhile, Indian Ministry of External Affairs strongly dismissed a British media report claiming that the remains of victims from the crash were mistakenly sent to the wrong families. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stressed that all bodies were treated with "utmost professionalism and dignity."
'All remains were handled with utmost professionalism and with due regard for the dignity of the deceased. We continue to work closely with UK authorities to address any concerns related to this matter," the ministry said.
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