Families of those who perished in the Air India crash have voiced distress over a grievous error involving the misidentification of their relatives’ remains.
The accident occurred on June 12 when an Air India flight bound for London crashed shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad airport in India.
Tragically, out of the 242 people onboard, only one survived. The crash also claimed the lives of 19 individuals at the Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College and Civil Hospital, where the aircraft collided before bursting into flames.
In an extraordinary turn of events, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, seated in 11A on the Boeing 787, survived and emerged as the sole survivor of this devastating aviation disaster, which ranks among the most severe in almost ten years.
Adding to the anguish, the grieving families now face claims of receiving the incorrectly identified remains of their loved ones, as reported by their legal representatives.
In a particularly distressing case, a family had to cancel funeral arrangements upon discovering that the coffin contained the remains of an unidentified passenger. Another family encountered a situation where the remains of more than one person were mixed in a single casket.
These remains needed separation before the burial could proceed, as noted by the Daily Mail.
While some victims have been laid to rest or cremated in India, the remains of approximately 12 individuals have been returned to their families.
The errors were uncovered when Inner West London coroner Dr. Fiona Wilcox attempted to match DNA of the deceased with samples from their families.
Aviation lawyer James Healy-Pratt, who represents several families in the UK, is advocating for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to address the issue with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The families deserve urgent answers and assurances about the whereabouts of their loved ones,” the attorney stated. “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.”
In the instance of the ‘commingled’ remains, Healy-Pratt explained that after separation, one family was left ‘in limbo’ without a body to bury, as it was not their relative.
“And if it 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,” he added.
“The coroner also has a problem because she has an unidentified person in her jurisdiction.”
Healy-Pratt further critiqued the ‘chain of custody’ for the deceased as ‘unacceptably poor.’
An airline official, requesting anonymity, stated that Air India was not responsible for the identification process: “It was the hospital, they who were the ones who confirmed the next-of-kin matches,” according to The Guardian.
Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, remarked: “We have seen the report and have been working closely with the UK side from the moment these concerns and issues were brought to our attention.”
He affirmed that the identification process adhered to protocol and was ‘handled with utmost professionalism and with due regard for the dignity of the deceased’.
Jaiswal concluded: “We are continuing to work with the UK authorities on addressing any concerns related to this issue.”
The incident comes amid a preliminary report released on July 10, revealing that both of the aircraft’s fuel switches were in the cut-off position shortly after departure, halting fuel supply to the engines.
UNILAD has reached out to Air India and India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau for comment.