Latest news with #repatriation
Times
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Times
Air India families in Britain ‘receive the wrong bodies'
The grieving families of Britons killed in the Air India crash have been sent the wrong bodies in a bungled repatriation scheme, a lawyer acting for them has said. Air India Flight 171 lost power and hit a building on June 12 just after take-off from Ahmedabad airport. It was heading for London. All but one of the 242 passengers and crew and 19 people on the ground were killed. A total of 52 victims were British citizens. The remains of a number of British victims were wrongly identified before they were flown home, it was reported on Tuesday. One victim's relatives abandoned funeral plans after allegedly being told that the coffin contained a different passenger's body. That body has yet to be identified. the crash were commingled in a single coffin. The remains had to be separated before the funeral could go ahead. The mishandling of repatriations was uncovered when Dr Fiona Wilcox, senior coroner for inner west London, compared DNA from the bodies with samples provided by victims' families. Investigations are under way in Britain and India. Sir Keir Starmer is expected to discuss the case with Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister, when he makes a state visit to Britain this week. Some crash victims were cremated or buried soon after their bodies were recovered, in accordance with Hindu, Muslim and other religious customs. SAM PANTHAKY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES James Healy-Pratt, a lawyer representing several British families, said that the remains of at least 12 British victims had been repatriated. He told the Mail: 'I've been sitting down in the homes of these lovely British families over the last month, and the first thing they want is their loved ones back. But some of them have got the wrong remains and they are clearly distraught over this. It has been going on for a couple of weeks and I think these families deserve an explanation.' Healy-Pratt is seeking formal responses from Air India and its emergency response contractor, Kenyon International Emergency Services. It is understood that the families affected by the bungled repatriations are in contact with their MPs and the Foreign Office. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner burst into flames, making identification of victims difficult. Some families received remains from the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad in a plastic container rather than a coffin. Indian authorities had claimed on June 28 that DNA tests had identified all 260 victims of the crash.
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
British Air India families are sent the WRONG bodies: Grieving loved ones are returned caskets with unknown passengers inside
The repatriation of Britons killed in the Air India disaster has been horrifically bungled, the Daily Mail can reveal. Bereaved families are suffering fresh heartache because the remains of their loved ones were wrongly identified before being flown home. Relatives of one victim had to abandon funeral plans after being informed that their coffin contained the body of an unknown passenger rather than their family member. In another distressing case, the 'commingled' remnants of more than one person killed in the crash were mistakenly placed in the same casket. They had to be separated before the internment could go ahead last weekend. The shocking blunders only emerged when Inner West London coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox sought to verify the repatriated Britons' identities by matching their DNA with samples provided by the families. Tonight, a top-level inquiry into the scandal is underway in London and India, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to raise concerns with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on his state visit to Britain this week. Though two instances of mistaken identity have so far come to light, there are fears that more such errors could have been made, leaving families under a shadow of uncertainty. Pictured: Debris at the site of a plane crash near Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport Pictured: Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the sole survivor of the Air India flight 171 crash Pictured: Thick black smoke billowing from a residential area after Air India flight 171 crashed in Ahmedabad Of the 261 people who died when Air India flight 171 lost power and crashed, seconds after leaving Ahmedabad for London Gatwick, 52 were returning Britons. And while some victims were either speedily cremated or buried in India, in accordance with their religious beliefs, aviation lawyer James Healy-Pratt, who represents many of the British families, says the remains of at least 12 have been repatriated. Mr Healy-Pratt was enlisted to uncover the full facts behind the catastrophe - caused when the Dreamliner's fuel supply was either intentionally or accidentally switched off, according to a preliminary report - and fight for compensation in the courts. But this week he is investigating the botched identification process. 'I've been sitting down in the homes of these lovely British families over the last month, and the first thing they want is their loved ones back,' he told the Mail. 'But some of them have got the wrong remains and they are clearly distraught over this. It has been going on for a couple of weeks (and) I think these families deserve an explanation.' Though the family who received 'commingled' remains had been able to have them separated and hold a funeral service, he said, the second set of relatives - whom he called Family X - had been left 'in limbo'. 'Family X have no-one to bury because it was the wrong person in their casket. And if isn't their relative, the question is, who is it in that coffin? Presumably it's another passenger and their relatives have been given the wrong remains. Pictured: People carrying the body of a victim from the crash site after Air India flight 171 crashed in Ahmedabad Pictured: The Air India flight 171 stuck on the side of the building after the crash Pictured: The aftermath of the Air India plane crash. Within three days the remains of virtually all the victims were believed to have been found, although the 1500C heat had burnt most beyond recognition 'The coroner also has a problem because she has an unidentified person in her jurisdiction.' The lawyer is now trying to establish the precise chain of events in the recovery and identification process, beginning when the bodies were pulled from the jet's smouldering wreckage and ending when they reached Britain. It will be no easy task. For arriving in India in the aftermath of the disaster on June 12, grieving British families were incensed by the chaotic ground operation and immediately recognised the danger of misidentification. One relative criticised the 'lack of transparency and oversight in the identification and handling of remains', and there were calls for a British-run ID unit to be flown in. 'Our loved ones were British citizens. They deserved better in life. They certainly deserved better in death,' was one embittered refrain. The operation to recover remains began soon after the plane crashed into a medical hostel and houses near Ahmedabad airport. It was led by local recovery teams from Ahmedabad's police and fire departments and the state disaster response force. They used sniffer dogs and hi-tech search equipment and were aided by local volunteers who sifted the twisted, smouldering metal with their hands. Within three days the remains of virtually all the victims were believed to have been found, although the 1500C heat had burnt most beyond recognition. Others were mutilated or fragmented by the force of the impact. Pictured: Rescue workers at the site of the crash. The repatriation of Britons killed in the Air India disaster has been horrifically bungled, the Daily Mail can reveal Pictured: Ambulances waiting to transfer the dead bodies of victims from the hospital complex in Ahmedabad on June 14, 2025 It meant that many families received their remains from the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad - which served as the central ID hub - in a plastic container, rather than a coffin. Relatives were asked to supply DNA samples to be used as identification but in the most severe cases they had to be matched against dental records. Families could only rely on officials to carry out the process accurately and label the containers correctly. 'Nobody looked at the remains. We weren't allowed to,' said Altaf Taju, from Blackburn, whose London-based parents Adam, 72 and Hasina, 70, perished along with their son-on-law Altafhusen Patel, 51. 'They just said, "This is your mother or father", and gave us a paper label with an ID number on it. We had to take their word for it. It's horrific that this could have happened, but what could anyone do?' Mr Taju was told of the mix-up by a police liaison officer. He takes comfort from the fact that his parents and brother-in-law were not involved in the confusion because they were buried quickly, in India, to comply with their Muslim faith. By June 28, Indian authorities claimed DNA tests had conformed the identities of all 260 fatalities. Those victims flown back to Britain were transported by Air India, though some families complained of unnecessary delays and lack of information from the airline. Approached by the Mail, Dr Wilcox said it would be inappropriate for her to comment. Pictured: A policeman and medics transferring bodies of victims onto an ambulance after the Air India Flight 171 crash Pictured: Debris at the site of a plane crash near Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad Mr Healy-Pratt added: 'On the known evidence, the chain of custody of these lost loved ones was unacceptably poor. 'We are investigating the causes of those failures and demanding answers on behalf of these deserving British families. 'We await formal responses from Air India, and their emergency response contractors - Kenyons International Emergency Services. 'The families are also directly in contact with their MPs, the FCDO and the offices of the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary- ahead of Premier Modi's visit to London this week.'
Reuters
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Mexico president says 14 Mexicans held in US detention center 'Alligator Alcatraz'
MEXICO CITY, July 22 (Reuters) - Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Tuesday that 14 Mexican nationals were being held at the U.S. "Alligator Alcatraz" detention center and that her government was seeking their repatriation. "All arrangements are being made to ensure they are repatriated immediately to Mexico," Sheinbaum said in her daily news conference. The facility sits some 37 miles (60 km) from Miami in a vast subtropical wetland teeming with alligators, crocodiles and pythons, fearsome imagery the White House has leveraged to show its determination to purge migrants it says were wrongly allowed to stay in the U.S. under former President Joe Biden. Since President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20, a total of 73,533 people have been returned to Mexico, mostly by air, including 67,008 Mexican nationals, Sheinbaum said in another daily briefing this month. Mexican father Martin Gonzalez told local radio station W that his sons, Carlos and Alejandro, were currently detained in the detention center. "It's really bad. The facility is completely closed, not even sunlight gets in. The lights are on 24-7, so they don't even know if it's day or night," Gonzalez said. He said his two sons were sent to the facility after Carlos, 26, was stopped by a state trooper while driving. He was visiting the U.S. as a tourist and had a valid visa, his father added. The trooper asked for the car's registration, which was missing. When his brother, Alejandro, arrived to provide the document, he was detained too, and both were sent to the facility, their father said. "Obviously my sons are desperate to get out of this situation," he said. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not respond immediately to a request for comment about the brothers' case. Mexico's consul in Orlando, Juan Sabines, said in a video shared Monday alongside the men's father that the two were in "legal limbo," because a lawyer appointed to their case did not have access to their file, nor had a judge been assigned to the case.
Khaleej Times
9 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
Body of Indian woman found dead in Sharjah repatriated, daughter laid to rest in Dubai
Nearly two weeks after an Indian mother and her one-year-and-five-months old daughter were found dead in their Sharjah apartment, the woman's body has been repatriated to India, while the child has been laid to rest in Dubai. The social worker associated with the body repatriation said that the mother's body was flown to Trivandrum on Tuesday evening via an Air India Express flight that departed from Dubai at 5.30pm. 'The body had been in the mortuary since July 9. Her grieving mother, who arrived in the UAE on a visit visa to accompany her daughter's remains, and her brother, who was already in the country, travelled back with the body,' said Nihas Hashim, the social worker associated with body repatriation. 'Family members in Kerala will receive the remains for final rites in their hometown,' added Hashim. The daughter was cremated at the Sonapur New Cemetery in Dubai, said the social worker. The repatriation and funeral arrangements were coordinated by social worker Hashim and Salam Pappinaserry, CEO of YAB Legal Services, in collaboration with the Indian Consulate in Dubai and the Sharjah Indian Association. 'It took time to complete the legal and procedural formalities, but we are thankful that we could bring some closure to the grieving family,' said Hashim. The woman and her daughter were found dead in their apartment, and a handwritten note was allegedly recovered from the scene. The mother of the deceased filed a case at the Kandura Police Station in Kerala against the husband and his family for alleged domestic abuse. Hashim said that the Consulate General of India in Dubai extended full support to the family and were working closely with us and the legal advisors to expedite the formalities.
Reuters
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Mexico's Sheinbaum says 14 Mexicans held in "Alligator Alcatraz" detention center
MEXICO CITY, July 22 (Reuters) - Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Tuesday that 14 Mexican nationals were being held at the U.S. "Alligator Alcatraz" detention center and that her government was seeking their repatriation. "All arrangements are being made to ensure they are repatriated immediated to Mexico," Sheinbaum said in her daily news conference. The facility sits some 37 miles (60 km) from Miami in a vast subtropical wetland teeming with alligators, crocodiles and pythons, fearsome imagery the White House has leveraged to show its determination to purge migrants it says were wrongly allowed to stay in the country under former President Joe Biden's administration. Since President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20, a total of 73,533 people have been returned to Mexico, mostly by air, including 67,008 Mexican nationals, Sheinbaum said in one of her daily briefings earlier this month.
