The mother of a British passenger who died in the Air India crash says her family is “devastated” after incorrect remains were returned in her son’s coffin.
The flight, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner bound for London, went down moments after takeoff from Ahmedabad on 12 June, resulting in 241 fatalities.
Fifty-two British citizens were among the victims, marking one of the deadliest aviation disasters involving UK nationals.
Fiongal Greenlaw-Meek, 39, and his husband Jamie, 45, were returning to the UK after marking their wedding anniversary in India when the crash occurred.
Greenlaw-Meek’s mother, Amanda Donaghey, traveled to India to locate her son’s remains and provided a DNA sample at a local hospital for identification purposes.
On 20 June, a match was confirmed, and she flew back to the UK with what was believed to be her son’s coffin. However, on 5 July, authorities informed her that UK-based DNA tests revealed the remains inside did not belong to her son.
“We don’t know whose remains are in that coffin,” she said. “I had concerns before, but hearing this was devastating. It’s absolutely unacceptable.”
The news came as relatives of Greenlaw-Meek and his husband made arrangements for a joint burial.
Donaghey called on UK officials to take all necessary steps to locate her son’s remains and “bring Fiongal home.”
Legal representatives for several British victims confirmed that at least two of the 12 coffins repatriated to the UK held incorrectly identified remains.
James Healy-Pratt, a lawyer assisting some of the victims' families, said, “Out of the 12 caskets sent back, two were misidentified. If you apply that rate to all 240 victims, the number of errors could be significant. But we lack exact details.”
He added that families want clarity from Indian officials, stating, “Authorities in India have not provided sufficient transparency or support.”
Another British victim, 71-year-old Shobhana Patel—who died alongside her husband Ashok, 74, while returning from a religious visit—was reportedly buried with multiple sets of remains in her coffin.
Her son, Miten Patel, said, “A mistake might have happened, but for religious reasons, we must be certain these are my mother’s remains. Knowing with certainty is crucial for us.”
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