Air India crash victims’ families given wrong bodies: How could this have happened?

On June 12, Air India flight AI 171 took off from Ahmedabad for its journey to UK’s Gatwick when just 32 seconds after take-off, the plane crashed, killing 260 people and becoming one of the deadliest aviation incidents in recent history.

Now, over a month after the tragedy, a new pain has hit some of the families of the victims after it was discovered that the remains of their loved ones were wrongly identified before repatriation to Britain, according to a lawyer representing them.

The news of error comes amid Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to London where he is expected to meet with his British counterpart Keir Starmer and sign the crucial India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) deal.

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Did India bungle up in sending remains to Britain?

A Daily Mail report has revealed that two families of the Air India crash victims in the UK received the wrong bodies. The report states that relatives of one victim had to abandon funeral plans after being informed that the coffin contain the remains of any unknown passenger rather than their family member.

In the other case, the ‘commingled’ remnants of more than one person killed in the crash were mistakenly placed in the same casket.

James Healy-Pratt, the lawyer of the families in Britain, was quoted as telling the New York Times, “This has added an indescribable psychological distress to families who are already going through the trauma of losing a loved one,” he said.

“It’s appalling that the families have to go through this,” he said. “You lose a loved one on the 12th of June, and within a matter of weeks you virtually lost them again.”

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He added that the family who received the ‘commingled’ remains were able to have them separated and hold a funeral service. However, the other family is “in limbo”, the lawyer was quoted as telling Daily Mail, adding, “Family X have no-one to bury because it was the wrong person in their casket. And if isn’t their relative, the question is, who is it in that coffin? Presumably it’s another passenger and their relatives have been given the wrong remains.”

While Family X’s identity hasn’t been revealed, those who received the ‘commingled’ remains were Miten Patel, who lost his mother and father — Ashok and Shobhana Patel. The couple from Kent were on the Gatwick-bound plane when it crashed.

Speaking on the mix-up, he Miten told BBC that it was “obviously very upsetting”. “People were tired and there was a lot of pressure. But there has to be a level of responsibility that you’re sending the right bodies to the UK.”

The blunder was realised after a coroner in London, Dr Fiona Wilcox, sought to verify the identities of the remains repatriated to Britain by matching their DNA with samples provided by the families. She has, however, declined to comment on the issue.

What do families of other victims have to say?

While only two instances of incorrect remains have been discovered so far, it has led to concern for the victims of the families, some now even doubting if they had bid adieu to the right person.

As Altaf Taju, from Blackburn, whose London-based parents Adam (72) and Hasina (70), perished along with their son-on-law Altafhusen Patel (51) told the Daily Mail, “It’s horrific that this could have happened, but what could anyone do?”

He takes solace in the fact that his parents and brother-in-law were not involved in the confusion. That’s because they were buried quickly, in India as per the Muslim faith.

The family of Akeel Nanabawa, Hannaa Vorajee and their four-year-old daughter, Sara, from Gloucester, who were all killed in the crash, also expressed concern over the matter. They noted in a report by The Guardian that the process of identification had left them uneasy. “From the outset, there was a clear lack of transparency and accountability in how the identification and repatriation of victims was handled. Communication was poor. Processes were unclear. And concerns raised by bereaved families — both in India and the UK — were often met with silence.”

How has India responded?

Reacting to the news, the spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal, said that India 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 regard for the dignity of the deceased. We are continuing to work with the UK authorities on addressing any concerns related to this issue,” a statement issued read.

Air India, the concerned airline in the crash, said it had no comment and it has emerged that the company played no role in identifying the remains of those who died. An official, however, told The Guardian, “It was the hospital, they who were the ones who confirmed the next-of-kin matches.”

But how could misidentification actually happen?

This blunder, according to experts, was a result of body tissues of different people getting fused in the aftermath of the crash. This may have led to different results when making DNA analysis.

The identification of the victims in the Air India crash began almost immediately after the tragedy. It was led by local recovery teams from Ahmedabad’s police and fire departments and the state disaster response force. They used sniffer dogs and high-tech search equipment and were aided by local volunteers who sifted the twisted, smouldering metal with their hands.

That’s where DNA testing comes in. Barring identical twins, every individual has unique DNA. Experts note that DNA identification is the gold standard for identifying human remains, especially after mass fatality events in which bodies might not be easy to identify otherwise.

These DNA samples are then matched against those taken from relatives. That’s because family members share DNA.

One has to note, however, that this is a highly time-consuming process. It took authorities 10 months to collect DNA samples following the 9/11 attacks in the US.

Experts note that the impact of the Air India crash and the ensuing fire, which generated temperatures reaching 1,500°C, left most of the bodies unrecognisable and could have also changed the DNA present in the body. HP Sanghvi, the director of the forensic lab where most of the DNA samples were sent even told New York Times, “These high temperatures affect the DNA present in various parts of the body. This process is very complex.”

With inputs from agencies