A Woman's Son Died in the Air India Crash, and Now She Says She Was Given the Wrong Body: 'An Appalling Thing to Have Happened'

Yahoo

27-07-2025

'We don't know what poor person is in that casket,' Amanda Donaghey said of the body she believed to be her son's
After losing her son in the Air India plane crash, a grieving mother traveled to India to bring his body home. But the coffin she returned with, she claims, contained the remains of a different victim.
On June 12, Air India Flight AI171, a London-bound Boeing 787-8 aircraft, crashed just after takeoff in India, resulting in the deaths of 241 people — everyone on board but one. Amanda Donaghey's son, Fiongal Greenlaw-Meek, 39, and his husband Jamie, 45, were on the flight, returning home to the United Kingdom after celebrating their wedding anniversary in India.
Donaghey, who lives in France, traveled to the crash site to see where her son had spent his final moments, and to bring his body home — but the remains she brought back to London were not her son's, she claimed in a new The Sunday Times interview published on July 26.
Donaghey, 66, first arrived in India five days after the crash, on June 17, and gave blood in order to find a DNA match among the remains of the 241 — 229 passengers and 12 crew members. On June 20, as she began to lose hope, someone informed her a 'match' had been found, she told The Sunday Times.
Believing his body would now be able to join the body of his husband, which had already been properly identified and brought home, Donaghey arrived in London Gatwick Airport 'with the assurance that Fiongal was in the casket,' she told The Sunday Times.
But she claimed she would soon make a 'heartbreaking' discovery that disrupted the family's plan to have the couple rest together.
As Donaghey and her family planned Greenlaw-Meek and Jamie's funerals, police allegedly informed her that a coroner in the U.K. had determined that the remains she had brought home were not her son's.
It happened in early July, when family liaison officers set up a meeting with Donaghey, along with Greenlaw-Meek's father, sister and brother, and allegedly told the family, 'We don't have Fiongal. We have carried out the DNA tests and we do not have Fiongal,' according to The Sunday Times.
'I had my doubts, but to be told that was heartbreaking,' the grieving mother recalled to the outlet of the revelation.
'We don't know what poor person is in that casket. This is an appalling thing to have happened,' Donaghey added to The Sunday Times. 'And we would now like the British government to do everything in its power to find out, and bring Fiongal home.'
As Donaghey continues her effort to bring her son's body home, she fears, however, it may now be an impossible feat.
'We have spent every day since then on the phone to the Foreign Office, trying to get a response on where Fiongal is,' Donaghey told The Sunday Times. 'All the time, I feel like I'm just standing on the edge of a black hole thinking, 'Has he been disposed of?' '
Greenlaw-Meek's loved ones are not the only ones in this situation. James Healy-Pratt, an aviation lawyer who said he is representing multiple U.K. families in the wake of the crash, previously told CBS News and The Daily Mail that the remains of two British victims had been misidentified. Speaking with CBS News, he described it as 'a double psychological trauma.'
In a statement shared on July 23, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Shri Randhir Jaiswal said authorities 'have seen the report' about the mix-up and "have been working closely with the UK side from the moment these concerns and issues were brought to our attention.'
"In the wake of the tragic crash, the concerned authorities had carried out identification of victims as per established protocols and technical requirements,' Jaiswal added. 'All mortal remains 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."
In a statement to The Sunday Times, a U.K. government spokesperson said that "formal identification of bodies is a matter for the Indian authorities."
'We understand that this is an extremely distressing time for the families, and our thoughts remain with them," the spokesperson continued, in part. "We continue to liaise with the government of Gujarat and the government of India on behalf of the Inner West London senior coroner to support the coronial process.'
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An official cause of the Air India Flight AI171 crash has not officially been released, but officials are currently investigating why the fuel to the engines was cut.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation previously announced it was establishing a committee to investigate the incident, promising to assess "the root cause of the crash" and "contributing factors, including mechanical failure, human error, weather conditions, regulatory compliances and other reasons.'
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