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Malay Mail
6 days ago
- General
- Malay Mail
UK families horrified as Air India crash caskets contain wrong, mixed remains
LONDON, July 24 — Relatives of a British victim killed in last month's Air India crash received a casket that contained mixed remains, a lawyer representing several families and UK media said yesterday. The family of a separate victim received the remains of another person, according to James Healy-Pratt, who is representing 20 British families who lost loved ones in the disaster. A total of 241 people on board the London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner died when the plane crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad in western India on June 12. Some 169 Indian passengers and 52 British nationals were killed, making it one of the deadliest plane crashes in terms of the number of British fatalities. Several people on the ground also died while only one passenger, British citizen Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, survived the crash. Healy-Pratt told the Press Association news agency that the return of victims' remains had been marred by serious errors, which had been identified following a probe by a British coroner. 'In the first two caskets that were repatriated, in one of the caskets, there was co-mingling of DNA which did not relate to the deceased in that casket or the casket that accompanied it,' he said. The lawyer added the coroner was then 'able to determine that one particular loved one was not at all who the family thought they were'. Miten Patel, whose mother Shobhana Patel died along with her husband in the disaster, told the BBC that 'other remains' were found in her casket after her body was returned to Britain. 'People were tired and there was a lot of pressure. But there has to be a level of responsibility that you're sending the right bodies to the UK,' he told the broadcaster. The Daily Mail newspaper first reported two cases in which the wrong remains were apparently returned to families in Britain. India's foreign ministry said all 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,' the statement added. — AFP
ABC News
6 days ago
- General
- ABC News
British lawyer says families received wrong remains of Air India crash victims
Relatives of a British victim killed in last month's Air India crash received a casket that contained mixed remains, a lawyer representing several families says. The family of a separate victim received the remains of another person, according to James Healy-Pratt, who is representing 20 British families who lost loved ones in the disaster. A total of 241 people on board the London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner died when the plane crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad in western India on June 12. The toll included 169 Indian passengers and 52 British nationals. Several people on the ground also died while only one passenger, British citizen Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, survived the crash. Mr Healy-Pratt told the Press Association news agency that the return of victims' remains had been marred by serious errors, which had been identified following a probe by a British coroner. "In the first two caskets that were repatriated, in one of the caskets, there was co-mingling of DNA which did not relate to the deceased in that casket or the casket that accompanied it," he said. The lawyer added the coroner was then "able to determine that one particular loved one was not at all who the family thought they were". Miten Patel, whose mother, Shobhana Patel, died along with her husband in the disaster, told the BBC that "other remains" were found in her casket after her body was returned to Britain. "People were tired and there was a lot of pressure. But there has to be a level of responsibility that you're sending the right bodies to the UK," he told the BBC. The Daily Mail newspaper first reported two cases in which the wrong remains were apparently returned to families in Britain. India's foreign ministry said all 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," the statement added. AFP
CNN
6 days ago
- General
- CNN
Some Air India victims' families in UK were sent wrong remains, lawyer says
FacebookTweetLink Authorities in India sent the wrong remains to some British families whose loved ones were killed in a plane crash last month, their lawyer has claimed, as relatives reckoned with the human cost of the world's deadliest aviation accident in a decade. At least two UK nationals were discovered to have been misidentified after they were repatriated, according to James Healy-Pratt, an international aviation lawyer who is representing some of the British relatives of victims. In one case, a coroner in London discovered that the DNA of several bodies had been co-mingled in one of the caskets, Healy-Pratt told UK news agency PA Media. Dr Fiona Shaw 'picked up DNA anomalies' when the bodies were first repatriated, Healy-Pratt said. 'My understanding was that the co-mingling was at the very beginning, which alerted Dr Wilcox to the fact that she had to be 100% assiduous about checking the identification of the incoming remains,' the lawyer added. 'She was then able to determine that one particular loved one was not at all who the family thought they were,' said Healy-Pratt. All but one of 242 passengers and crew members were killed on June 12, after an Air India jet lost momentum and hurtled into a densely populated neighborhood in Ahmedabad, western India. The London-bound aircraft had barely left the runway of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport before it spun out of control and nosedived into the BJ Medical College and Hospital hostel – also killing 19 people on the ground. Authorities have not yet released the definitive cause of the crash, but a preliminary report suggested that the fuel control switches in the cockpit of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner had been flipped, depriving the engines of power. In an audio recording from the black box, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why he flipped the switches, according to the assessment by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau published last week. The other pilot responds that he did not. Moments later, the switches were flipped to turn the fuel supply back on. Both engines relit and one began to 'progress to recovery,' but it was too late to halt the plane's tumultuous descent. Of those killed on board, at least 169 were Indian nationals, seven were Portuguese and one was from Canada. The only survivor was Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, one of 53 UK passengers that day who told local media that he escaped by clinging onto a small space near the door by his seat. The relatives of three victims said they were 'deeply troubled' by the revelations on Wednesday, calling on authorities to act with 'care, co-ordination and respect.' 'Recent developments have only confirmed what many feared: that serious mistakes may have been made, and that the dignity and rights of victims and their families were not safeguarded as they should have been,' they said in a statement. The relatives of Akeel Nanabawa, his wife Hannaa Vorajee and their four-year-old daughter Sara Nanabawa added that while they are 'confident' they received the 'correct bodies' - they were still 'deeply troubled by what this means for other families who may still be searching for certainty and closure.' 'This isn't just a personal tragedy; it is a collective one.' India's foreign ministry had been 'working closely with the UK side from the moment these concerns and issues' were raised, according to a spokesperson. Authorities conducted identification of victims using 'established protocols and technical requirements,' foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a post on X on Wednesday. 'All mortal remains were handled with the utmost professionalism and with due regard for the dignity of the deceased,' Jaiswal added. 'We are continuing to work with the UK authorities on addressing any concerns related to this issue.' The case came on the heels of a meeting in London between India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart, Keir Starmer, as the two nations sign a landmark free trade agreement. Healy-Pratt, who is demanding 'financial justice' for the families, said he believes the allegations will be on the agenda for the talks this week.
The Sun
6 days ago
- The Sun
Air India crash victim's family furious after someone else's remains were also sent home in casket
THE family of a mum killed in the Air India crash has blasted Indian authorities after someone else's remains were also sent home in her casket. NHS microbiologist Shobhana Patel, 71, died with her husband Ashok, 74, in the crash in June. 2 The couple, from Orpington, Kent, were repatriated in different coffins but DNA tests in Britain found other body parts along with Shobhana's. Her son Miten, 40, said: 'I have no idea if the other remains were from more than one person.' One family was sent the wrong body entirely. India's Ministry of External Affairs said: 'All remains were handled with professionalism.' Lawyer James Healy-Pratt, representing around 20 families, said: 'They have been left in limbo. 'They have no-one to bury because the wrong body was in the casket.' It is thought that only Indian authorities carried out DNA tests on victims with no input from any international agency. Mr Healy-Prat added: 'I am hearing that it was Indian authorities alone who identified remains and then placed them in caskets. 'The families want assurances that their loved ones have not been left behind somewhere in India because they don't have confidence in the system. 'They have had the terrible shock of losing a loved one and then they go through more trauma when they learn it is not only their loved one in the casket, or it may not be their loved one at all.'
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Some Families of Air India Victims Sent Wrong Remains, Lawyer Claims: ‘Double Psychological Trauma'
The families of some Air India victims from the United Kingdom were given the wrong remains, according to a lawyer. Officials have said 241 of the 242 people onboard the London-bound flight died when the plane crashed shortly after taking off in Ahmedabad, India, on June 12. But James Healy-Pratt, an aviation lawyer who said he is representing multiple U.K. families in the wake of the crash, told CBS News and The Daily Mail that the remains of two British victims had been misidentified. Healy-Pratt said the mistakes were uncovered when Inner West London coroner Dr. Fiona Wilcox attempted to match DNA samples from the victims and their families, the outlets reported. One of the caskets contained remains that had "nothing to do with them,' and another had 'commingled' DNA that 'wasn't related to the person in the casket or the other person,' the lawyer told CBS News. At least one family was forced to cancel funeral plans after learning the remains they were given did not belong to their loved one, Healy-Pratt said. The lawyer told The Daily Mail that the families impacted by the mix-up 'deserve an explanation.' Speaking with CBS News, he described it as 'a double psychological trauma.' 'It's one thing to lose a loved one,' he said, 'but then you go to India, you sit in a hotel, you give your DNA, you pray to God that there'll be a DNA match. You're then told there is. You're assured everything's fine and certified. You come back, and then you're told either there's more remains in the casket than just your loved one, or there are no remains, in spite of having been certified, and we don't know who this is.' In a statement shared Wednesday, 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 said. '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." But Healy-Pratt told CBS News that statement 'lacked specifics' and was "simply not good enough." "The families want to draw a line under their emotional distress that's come out from this and so that requires detailed hard work by the Indian authorities to provide assurances that there are no further remains of British nationals either unidentified, identified or mislabeled, misidentified in India,' the lawyer explained. 'And the line will not be drawn until that cast iron assurance is provided. And at the moment, it's not forthcoming," he added. PEOPLE reached out to Air India for comment on Wednesday, July 23. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The airline previously said 53 British nationals were on the Boeing 787-8 aircraft when it crashed in June. There were also 169 Indian nationals, 7 Portuguese nationals and 1 Canadian national on board. Read the original article on People
