British families receive ‘wrong remains’ of Air India plane crash victims: Report
Family of victim had to ‘abandon funeral plans after being informed that their coffin contained the body of an unknown passenger,’ claims Daily Mail
Air India plane crash
- New Delhi continues to work with UK on ‘addressing any concerns’ related to repatriation of victim bodies, says Foreign Ministry
ANKARA
Families in the UK have received the “wrong remains” of victims of an Air India plane crash last month, which left 260 people dead, according to a media report on Wednesday.
The families are suffering “fresh heartache because the remains of their loved ones were wrongly identified before being flown home,” the Daily Mail reported.
It said relatives of one of the victims 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 case, the “commingled” remains of more than one person killed in the crash were mistakenly placed in the same casket, it added.
The Indian Foreign Ministry said it has 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. All mortal remains were handled with utmost professionalism and with due regard for the dignity of the deceased,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said Wednesday.
He added: “We are continuing to work with the UK authorities on addressing any concerns related to this issue.”
The UK-bound plane slammed into several buildings on June 12 after crashing in western Gujarat state.
Among the passengers were 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese and a Canadian.
One passenger survived the crash after he jumped out of the plane.
