F-35B in Kerala: UK fighter jet stuck in India for five weeks leaves for Australia
The plane was part of the fleet of HMS Prince of Wales. Officials have not said why it was flying to Darwin, but it's most likely because the Royal Navy's flagship carrier is still in the region.For the past few days, HMS Prince of Wales has been posting updates and photos on X (formerly Twitter) from the joint exercises it has been conducting off the coast of Australia.After the plane was unable to return, engineers from the ship had visited it to fix it.But they were unable to repair it, and a fortnight back, the UK ministry of defence said they had deployed a team of 14 engineers "to Thiruvananthapuram airport to assess and repair the F-35B aircraft".The curious case of the British jet stuck in IndiaThere had been speculation that if the technicians failed to repair the aircraft, it would have to be dismantled and carried out in a bigger cargo plane such as a C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft.Over the past two weeks - including on Monday - the UK high commission in India and the defence authorities responded to the BBC's messages saying they would not share details of repairs.F-35Bs are highly advanced stealth jets, built by Lockheed Martin, and are prized for their short take-off and vertical landing capability.Images of the "lonely F-35B", parked on the tarmac and soaked by the Kerala monsoon rains, made it a subject of jokes and memes with many suggesting that it did not want to leave the scenic state of Kerala, described as "God's own country" in tourism brochures.The case of the stranded $110m (£80m) jet was also raised in the House of Commons.Follow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, X and Facebook
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
43 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Grieving British mother of Air India crash victim tells of her agony after being sent the WRONG body
A grieving mother whose son died in the Air India plane disaster travelled thousands of miles to collect his remains - only to be sent home with the wrong body. Amanda Donaghey lost her son Fiongal Greenlaw-Meek, 39, and his husband, Jamie, 45, when the Boeing 787 Dreamliner bound for London Gatwick crashed just seconds after takeoff on June 12 - claiming the lives of 260 people. The couple had been returning to Britain after celebrating their wedding anniversary in India when the plane unexpectedly crashed, killing all but one passenger onboard. The aircraft had turned into a huge fireball on impact but Ms Donaghey, 66, was determined to bring back her son's remains, handing over a sample of her blood in a bid to find matching DNA, The Sunday Times reports. Things did not look promising, however, and three days came and went without a word from officials handling the bodies. In the meantime, Jamie's remains were identified and sent home to the UK. But just as the mother was losing hope, they got back to her with news that there had been a 'match' for Fiongal. Ms Donaghey was relieved - the discovery meant she could bring her son's remains back and lay them next to his husband's. The family set about organising funerals for the two men with the mother assured on her return to the UK that Fiongal's remains were in the casket. Then, a heartbreaking development. The British coroner had conducted another DNA test which found that the remains in her son's coffin were not his after all. Ms Donaghey said that the identity of the remains is still unknown, describing the confusion as 'appalling'. Fiongal studied at the Royal College of Art and went on to work as a fashion designer, fronting design houses in London and Asia. He then got into sprituality, yoga and reiki and established the Wellness Foundry, dedicated to such topics, in 2018. The business founder married Jamie in 2022 and had taken to social media to describe their 'magical experience' in India the night before they caught the fateful flight. They even posted a short clip from the airport departure lounge just hours ahead of the journey back, which would see them sit in seats 22A and 22B, bidding farewell to the country. His mother was not aware he was on the plane, believing Fiongal to have flown back to the UK two days prior. After taking a ride on her horse, she got a phone call from Fiongal's father who told her the pair had been travelling back on the aircraft. Two days later, Ms Donaghey took a tricky trip to India from her home in the south of France, where she had moved 22 years ago. She was greeted by a British High Commission crisis management team on her arrival in Ahmedabad in Gujarat. Despite being exhausted, the mother headed straight to the nearby Civil Hospital to take a DNA test in a converted classroom. Ms Donaghey then paid a visit BJ Medical College hostel, which had been hit by the Air India plane, but was not allowed to go through the final cordon as the aircraft's tail was still lodged in a building there. 'It was like a bomb site,' she said. 'You would think it was from a war scene, but there were still these small birds twittering.' Also out there was Miten Patel who was determined to bring home his parents Ashok and Shobhana, who had been married since the 70s. The financial advisor and retired microbiologist had been in the country for a yatra, a religious visit geared towards helping people to find peace when they die. Ashok and Shobhana, pictured, had been married since the 70s and were in the country for a yatra, a religious visit geared towards helping people to find peace when they die Mr Patel was handed several of his parents' items including Ashok's shirt and Shobhana's swan necklace. After successfully retrieving the couple's remains, he later discovered 'other remains' in the casket said to contain his mother's body. He was finally able to bury her last week, describing the successful end to the process as a 'miracle'. Ms Donaghey has been going through a similar ordeal, but one that remains unresolved. After initially being informed of the 'match' on June 20, she spoke with the British High Commission and hospital representatives, as well as an Avon and Somerset Police officer, acting as a disaster victim investigator. She said: 'I was told they had found part of Fiongal but not all of him. I said I wanted to stay until they had finished looking.' But on her return to the crash site, Ms Donaghey was handed the devastating news that there was nothing left to be found in the wreckage. Things took an even more concerning turn when she was told about Shobhana's case, which had seen various remains get mixed up. On June 28, she headed back to Gatwick on an Air India flight in a bid to get Fiongal's remains to a British hospital with better preserving standards than those in India. They were handed over to Dr Fiona Wilcox, senior coroner for Inner West London, and in the meantime Ms Donaghey was given support by her sister in Cambridgeshire, as well as police family liaison officers. Six days after her return, the mother was handed the heart-wrenching news that the remains in her son's coffin were not his at all. At a meeting attended by Fiongal's father, sister and brother, family liaison officers said: 'We don't have Fiongal. We have carried out the DNA tests and we do not have Fiongal.' Amanda said: 'I had my doubts but to be told that was heartbreaking.' Despite realising that their ambition to bury Fiongal and Jamie alongside one another was now impossible, Ms Donaghey and her family have not given up on trying to locate his remains, ringing the Foreign Office each day looking for answers. Some 53 of the 242 people on the ill-fated flight were British but, as many were of Indian heritage and thus buried in the country of the crash, just 12 sets of remains were delivered back to the UK. The remaining 10 were all matches, but it is still not known for sure whether the identities of the bodies that stayed in India are correct. James Healy-Pratt, an international aviation lawyer and partner with Keystone Law, is representing 20 bereaved families and confirmed they were in contact with Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister's office and Foreign Secretary David Lammy. A government spokesperson said: 'We understand that this is an extremely distressing time for the families, and our thoughts remain with them. Formal identification of bodies is a matter for the Indian authorities. '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.'
Telegraph
7 hours ago
- Telegraph
Navy's only amphibious warship unsafe to sail
The Royal Navy's only amphibious warship has been declared unsafe to put to sea. RFA Argus is unable to leave the Portsmouth Naval Base because maritime authorities have said the ship is unfit to sail. The inability of Argus, currently designated as the naval service's sole amphibious warfare vessel, to put to sea means the Navy has no ships capable of delivering the Royal Marines en masse into war zones. Chris Parry, a retired admiral who once commanded the UK Amphibious Task Group, said the Argus was 'only ever a sticking plaster' and that the naval service's reliance on the ship was an example of 'strategic incoherence'. Amphibious means a ship that carries either helicopters or landing craft for putting troops ashore. The vessel's safety problems reportedly include a leaky ballast tank, difficulties with fire doors and a worn seal on her main aircraft lift. Its safety certification was withdrawn by Lloyds Register and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency after her arrival in Portsmouth on June 8, the Navy Lookout website reported. A Royal Navy spokesman said there were no current plans for Argus to put to sea until 'all identified defects' have been fixed. It comes after the ship spent five months being overhauled at APCL Falmouth, emerging from that maintenance period at the end of March. She had been due to leave Portsmouth for further repairs in the Cornish port. Problems with the Argus potentially affect Britain's role in Nato, where, under long-standing plans in the event of Russia attacking an alliance member, Royal Marines would be deployed by amphibious ship to Norway. Such a deployment would block Russia from gaining access to new Norwegian bases from where it could attack US reinforcements sailing across the Atlantic as well as launching raids against the UK. 'The predictable obsolescence of RFA Argus demonstrates the strategic incoherence at the heart of the government's defence policy,' said Mr Parry. 'She was only ever a sticking plaster that covered a gaping wound in our amphibious capability caused by the conceptual and political failure to procure the right vessels to complement the Future Commando Force, and to provide appropriate 21st century fighting power for littoral operations.' Used during the Falklands War The Future Commando Force was a creation of the Conservatives' 2021 Integrated Defence Review. It was intended to result in £50 million being spent converting one of the RFA's dedicated Bay-class amphibious warships into a so-called 'littoral strike' vessel, operating together with one of the Navy's dedicated Landing Platform Dock (LPD) ships. That plan disintegrated after Labour decided to sell off the LPDs last November to save money. Both HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark have been decommissioned and are now in the process of being bought by Brazil. Argus was originally built as a freighter-cum-ferry under the name MV Contender Bezant. She was requisitioned for the Falklands War in 1982 and has remained in naval service with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) ever since, having been extensively modified from her original civilian design. She is currently fitted as a 'primary casualty receiving ship', effectively a hospital ship but carrying weapons to defend herself. International law says that a true hospital ship – such as the American vessel USNS Mercy – must be unarmed, however, so Argus cannot technically be given that designation. 'No current plans for the ship to depart' The RFA is a civilian-manned auxiliary fleet that was originally set up to resupply the Royal Navy fleet at sea. After decades of budget cuts to its parent service, the RFA now operates its vessels on tasks that used to be allocated to RN warships. All of the RFA's three Bay-class ships are currently docked for refits, meaning they cannot immediately be put to sea. A Royal Navy spokesman said: 'We are collaborating closely with Lloyd's surveyors, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, and our industry partners to address issues recently identified with RFA Argus. 'There are no current plans for the ship to depart until all identified defects have been rectified.'
BBC News
17 hours ago
- BBC News
Veteran's grave found in Cambridgeshire 100 years after he died
The family of a Royal Navy veteran has located his grave 100 years after his Barker was born in 1880 in High Barnet, Middlesex, and volunteered to be a navy diver as well as carry out merchant ship service during World War survived a torpedo attack and, once he retired from the navy in 1924, moved to Cambridgeshire and ran the Three Horseshoes Pub in a BBC Radio Cambridgeshire appeal, a local historian investigated and said he believed Mr Barker was buried in one of three unmarked graves at the Baptist cemetery in the village. At first, historian David Edwards, from Doddington, thought it would be "fairly easy" to find someone who had died 100 years ago but then discovered many records from the time had been destroyed after a fire at the chapel in found a report of the funeral using the British newspaper archive and was made aware of a local cemetery with three unmarked graves, one of which was likely to belong to Mr Barker, but it was "almost impossible" to tell which."Finding the graves of long-lost relatives is perhaps one of the most fascinating parts of family history," Mr Edwards said. "It's always a pleasure to see the reactions of families." During the war, Mr Barker worked with the Q Ship service, which was classed as secret work and extremely dangerous, and he survived a torpedo attack that sunk his later volunteered as a navy diver, which involved making mines and torpedoes safe while wearing an old-fashioned diving Barker married his second wife in 1922 and retired from the navy two years later. He died after he was hit by a bus in St Ives while riding a bike. Mr Barker's great-grandson Kevin Brooks, from Kent, said: "It feels strange but it's good and finally something has been put to rest. "I can tell my mum, who is in her 90s, the mystery has been solved after all these years."David Webb, another relative from Kent, said: "We have been looking for a long time, 15 years, maybe more."David Edwards has done so much hard work in such a limited time... I am entirely grateful," he added. Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
