Air India crash: New Delhi responds to UK media report claiming 'wrong body' was sent to British victim's family
**EDS: FILE IMAGE** Ahmedabad: In this Thursday, June 12, 2025 file photo, wreckage of the Air India plane that crashed moments after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport, lies on a building, in Ahmedabad. Both switches feeding fuel to the two engines of Air India flight 171 were cut off followed by pilot confusion before the plane crashed in Ahmedabad, seconds after taking off, the first investigation report into the crash has revealed. (PTI Photo) (PTI07_12_2025_000001B)
India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Wednesday issued a public response to a UK media report which claimed that the family of a British national who had died in the June 12 Air India crash had allegedly received the wrong body.
Reiterating that victims of the AI 171 crash had been identified “as per established protocols and technical requirements”, MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated that India was actively working with the UK to resolve the issue.
“All mortal remains were handled with utmost professionalism and with due regard for the dignity of the deceased,” he added.
According to the Daily Mail report that alleged the repatriation mix-up, there was also another distressing case in which another family in the UK received the “commingled” remnants of more than one person killed in the crash—all mistakenly placed in the same casket.
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These shocking mistakes came to light when Inner West London coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox sought to verify the repatriated bodies' identities by means of matching their DNA samples with those provided by their families, the report added.
Aviation lawyer James Healy-Pratt, originally brought on to represent a number of British families in their fight to unearth the full story of the Air India crash of June 12, and to be fairly compensated, is now investigating this issue as well.
He explained that the remains of at least 12 victims have been sent in so far. Dr Wilcox's analyses, however, have now sparked fears of more such errors being made.
The devastating Air India crash of June 12 saw as many as 260 people—241 onboard, and 19 on the ground—killed after a London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed into a medical college hostel, seconds after take-off.
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