Confused coffins: Families of British victims in Air India crash allege mix-up; MEA refutes claims
The tragic Air India crash in Ahmedabad resulted in a devastating error: two British families received the wrong remains of their loved ones. The mix-up, discovered during DNA verification, forced one family to cancel funeral arrangements. Another family received commingled remains, requiring a painful separation process.
New Delhi: In a bizarre incident, the family members of the British nationals who died in the devastating Air India crash in Ahmedabad have been sent the wrong bodies of their loved ones, as per a report by the Daily Mail. The media outlet has reported that so far, two grieving families have found out that the remains of their loved ones were misidentified before they were sent to the UK.
In one of these instances, a family had to cancel funeral arrangements after they found that the coffin sent to them had the body of some other passenger, not that of their loved one, as per the report. There was another incident in which the 'commingled' remains of several crash victims were put, albeit mistakenly, in a single casket. An inner west London coroner named Dr Fiona Wilcox discovered the mistake while verifying the identities of the repatriated British nationals while cross-checking their DNA with the samples that their families provided.
Among those who lost their lives in the Air India crash, there were 52 British nationals. The Daily Mail quoted Healy-Pratt, who is responsible for investigating and uncovering the circumstances around the tragedy, "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 added that some of the families were sent the remains of the wrong people, which has made them distraught, and they deserve an explanation.
He referred to the family that was forced to cancel the funeral arrangement and said, "Family X have no one to bury because it was the wrong person in their casket. 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."
The report states that the family which received the 'commingled' remains had to seperate them before they could arrange the funeral services. Even though the remains of the crash victims were recovered, the extreme 1500°C heat during the crash burnt most bodies to the extent that they could not be recognised, with some mutilated or fragmented. Many families reportedly received the remains of their loved ones in plastic containers.
In some cases, dental records were used to identify the victims. Almost 40 officials from Gujarat worked to match the DNA samples while over 50 experts from several departments, like Forensic Medicine and Pathology, were used for the testing process.
Ministry of External Affairs refutes claim
However, the Ministry of External Affairs has refuted the claims made in the report. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal shared a statement which read, "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. In the wake of the tragic crash, the concerned authorities had carried out identification of victims as per established established protocols and technical requirements."
It further read, "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."