Air India crash: Wrong bodies of victims reached families in UK, multiple remains found in one casket
PTC News Desk: In a massive fiasco, two families of Air India crash victims in UK received the wrong bodies, according to the lawyer representing them. According to the sources , the bodies were sent in the sealed coffins after the DNA test was carried out by a government hospital in Ahmedabad and that the airline had no role in the mixup.
"Remains of the crash victims were wrongly identified and flown to the UK," a lawyer of Keystone Law, representing the families said.
Two such instances have come to light where families of the victims have alleged that the remains of their loved ones have been misidentified. The mix-up was revealed when the coroner in London attempted to verify the remains of the deceased people by matching their DNA, the lawyer added.
"One family had to abandon their funeral plans after being told by the coroner that the coffin contained the body of an unknown person and not that of their family member," said the lawyer.
While another family received the remains of their family members mixed with the remains of another passenger with both the remains placed in the same coffin. "The family had to get the remains of the two passengers separated before carrying out the funeral of their family member," the lawyer added further.
"One family was left with no one to bury after realising that they had received the wrong remains."
The Air India plane crash, which is one of the deadliest aviation tragedy in Indian history, killed 261 people, out of which 53 were British nationals.
"I have 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," said Healy-Pratt, who is responsible for investigating the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.
- With inputs from agencies
