UNIMAGINABLE

Air Crash Victims’ Families ‘Distraught’ After Being Sent the Wrong Remains

“How do I know there aren’t other remains in the casket with her?” one heartbroken son said.

The grieving son of two victims of the Air India crash has been sent the remains of strangers, and left wondering whose remains he now has. Miten Patel lost his father, Ashok, and mother, Shobhana, last month on the doomed Air India Flight 171, which crashed just seconds into its journey to London Gatwick Airport from Ahmedabad, India, killing 260 people. Investigations into what happened are ongoing, but as victims are repatriated, DNA tests on the bodies found some had been misidentified, according to the Daily Mail. Miten Patel told the BBC that “other remains” were found in his mother’s casket—a mistake which he called “very upsetting.” “People were tired and there was a lot of pressure,” Patel said. “But there has to be a level of responsibility that you’re sending the right bodies to the U.K. How do I know there aren’t other remains in the casket with her?” The issue has been made known to India’s foreign ministry, which said it has “been working closely with the U.K. side from the moment these concerns and issues were brought to our attention.” Aviation lawyer James Healy-Pratt, who is representing British families of some victims, told the Mail that those who have received the wrong remains are “clearly distraught” and “deserve an explanation.”