British air crash victims' families hit out at ‘no support' from Foreign Office
The relatives of a British family said to have died in the Air India plane crash have expressed their 'anger' at the Foreign Office's failure to support them.
Speaking exclusively to The Telegraph, Yasmine Hassan, 44, from west London, confirmed that her sister-in-law, Mariam Ali Syed, along with her husband Javed and the couple's two young children, Zayn, five, and Amani, four, were on board the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner when it crashed in Ahmedabad shortly after take-off on Thursday.
The young family were returning from a holiday in India. Mariam, 35, had worked for almost a decade as a brand ambassador at Harrods.
Mrs Hassan broke down when confirming the identities of Mariam's children, the two youngest family members on board the flight.
She said: 'They are so small, they are five and four. And it's just thinking how scared they must have been.'
She told The Telegraph: 'We're not angry about the lack of answers [from UK government officials] – we understand that takes time. We're angry because no one has reached out to offer support or even ask if we need anything. These are British citizens.'
Mrs Hassan said she was pleading with the Government to offer urgent support to relatives of the 53 British citizens aboard the flight.
She explained that her other sister-in-law, Sadaf Javed, 48, Mariam's elder sister, another British citizen living in London, was desperate to travel to Ahmedabad, but had so far been offered no support or assistance from the Foreign Office.
'My sister-in-law, who is one of the passenger's actual sisters, is saying, 'I need to get to India. I need to get there as soon as possible. I need to bring my babies home',' she explained.
On Thursday, Air India confirmed it would fly in relatives of families who had been aboard the flight from across India.
But Mrs Hassan said she was shocked that the UK Foreign Office had no plans to offer similar support to families in Britain.
'I called the UK Foreign Office to say, 'We've checked online and we can see that Air India has arranged two flights to help people from other parts of India get to Ahmedabad to be with their families. Is the UK doing anything like that?'
'The last thing my sister-in-law needs right now is to be worrying about visas and paperwork, when she's not even in the right head space.
'So I asked the Foreign Office, 'Do you know if the UK Government is arranging anything similar? Is anything being sorted?' And the woman just said, 'No, we haven't been informed of anything like that, sorry'.
'So then I asked, 'Is there anyone I can speak to? Someone who might know if they're waiving visa requirements or offering fast-track visas, or if any emergency flights are being put on?' Again, she just said, 'No.''
Mrs Hassan said she wanted to make the public aware of how little support was actually available for British families of those on board the crashed airliner.
'We really think people need to know that we've had no support – and they're British citizens. Yet no one from the Government has contacted us to ask, 'Can we do anything to help?'
'There are 53 British nationals on that flight. Some of them are from the same family.
'My sister-in-law's just thinking, 'I want to get there and be there no matter what happens'.
'This is her baby sister, her husband, and her sister's two children.
'Those two children see her like a second mum. She just wants to be there. And now we're having the stress of trawling airline websites, trying to find flights, wondering if we need an emergency visa, asking ourselves, 'Do we have to go to the Indian embassy? Can we apply for an e-visa?' – it's the added pressure when we're already struggling to cope.'
Mrs Hassan made clear that the family was not asking for financial help, simply administrative support. 'I don't care if it's £1,000 or £3,000, I've got a credit card.'
She also noted that the media appear to be better informed than the Government.
'Within the space of a few hours, we had The Telegraph and the BBC turn up at our house. We haven't had any representation from the Government come and ask, 'How's your family doing? This is a crisis. Can we support you in any way?' Nothing,' she added.
The fate of the young family has not been confirmed by UK authorities.
However, on Thursday night, Air India said that all but one of the 242 on board had died.
A spokesman for the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) told The Telegraph: 'Our thoughts are with all those affected by the tragic plane crash in India – this is an unfolding situation, and it will undoubtedly be causing a huge amount of worry and concern.
'FCDO staff are working urgently with local authorities in India and the UK to ensure families and friends are supported in the coming days, whether in the UK or in India.'
The spokesman declined to say whether the FCDO plans to arrange urgent travel to Ahmedabad for UK-based relatives of those on the Air India flight.
However, consular support in the region has been increased to assist British nationals and work with Indian authorities, with the British High Commissioner travelling there on Thursday. A dedicated FCDO helpline has also been set up.
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