Mother of Air India crash victim ‘heartbroken’ after remains wrongly identified

The crash claimed the lives of 169 Indian passengers and 52 British nationals.

<p class="">Among the British victims were Fiongal Greenlaw-Meek, 39, and his husband Jamie, 45, who were returning to the UK after celebrating their wedding anniversary in India.</p>

<p class="">Amanda Donaghey, Mr. Greenlaw-Meek’s mother, told <span class="contextmenu quote">The Sunday Times</span> that she traveled to India to locate her son's remains and provided a DNA sample at Ahmedabad’s Civil Hospital to aid in identification.</p>

<p class="">Following a DNA match on June 20th of the previous year, she brought a coffin believed to contain Mr. Greenlaw-Meek's remains back to Britain.</p>

<p class="">However, on July 5th, as the families of Mr. Greenlaw-Meek and his husband prepared for a joint burial, police informed Ms. Donaghey that UK-based DNA tests revealed the coffin did not contain her son's remains.</p>

<p class="">"We don’t know what poor person is in that casket," she stated to The Sunday Times.</p>

<p class="">"I had my doubts, but to be told that was heartbreaking."</p>

<p class="">"This is an appalling thing to have happened," she added.</p>

<p class="">"And we would now like the British government to do everything in its power to find out, and bring Fiongal home."</p>

<p class="">It was also revealed last week that the coffin of another repatriated British victim, 71-year-old Shobhana Patel, contained the remains of multiple individuals, <span class="contextmenu quote">The Sunday Times</span> reported.</p>

<p class="">Mrs. Patel was killed alongside her husband Ashok, 74, as they were returning to the UK from a Hindu religious pilgrimage.</p>

<p class="">Their son, Miten Patel, told The Sunday Times: "There may have been a mistake done."</p>

<p class="">"But for religious reasons we need to make sure my mother is my mother and not somebody else’s remains."</p>

<p class="">"Knowing 100% that it is my mum is very important to us.”</p>

<p class="">Shobhana and Ashok Patel were laid to rest last week, according to The Sunday Times.</p>

<figcaption class="imgFCap">Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (right) with the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi (Kin Cheung/PA)</figcaption>

<p class="">International aviation lawyer James Healey-Pratt, whose firm Keystone Law represents families of the Air India crash victims, informed <span class="contextmenu quote">Times Radio</span> that the identification discrepancies raise concerns about the accuracy of victim identification across the board.</p>

<p class="">"We know that 12 caskets were repatriated from India to the UK," he said.</p>

<p class="">"Of those 12, two had been mishandled, misidentified."</p>

<p class="">"And so if you extrapolate that sample, you’re looking at 40 mishandled remains out of 240."</p>

<p class="">"So that’s a very large number, but we simply don’t know."</p>

<p class="">"And to date, the Indian authorities have not been transparent or helpful about that, which is why there was pressure put on by the families to the FCO and the Prime Minister’s office."</p>

<p class="">"And this was actually mentioned in the meeting at Chequers between Keir Starmer and Prime Minister Modi on Thursday."</p>

<p class="">"So the families are waiting to hear, first thing next week, about what actions are really being done in India to provide some degree of assurance."</p>

<p class="">It is understood that no blame is being placed on any UK agency for the errors, Mr. Healy-Pratt previously told the PA news agency.</p>

<p class="">The only <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.irishexaminer.com/world/arid-41650829.html">surviving passenger on the plane was Vishwash Kumar Ramesh</a>, who previously told <span class="contextmenu quote">The Sun</span> it was a “miracle” he was alive but felt “terrible” he could not save his brother Ajay.</p>

<p class="">A preliminary report from India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau indicated that both of the plane’s fuel switches were moved to the “cut-off” position “immediately” after takeoff, halting fuel supply to the engine.</p>

<p class="">This finding has led to questions about whether the crash was intentional.</p>