India hits back at UK media reports of botched repatriation after Air India tragedy

India on Wednesday trashed a British media report which claimed that two families in the UK received wrong bodies of victims of the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said all mortal remains were handled with utmost professionalism and with due regard for the dignity of the deceased.

“We have seen the report and have been working closely with the UK side from the moment these concerns and issues were brought to our attention,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

“In the wake of the tragic crash, the concerned authorities had carried out identification of victims as per established protocols and technical requirements,” he said.

Jaiswal was responding to media queries regarding a report in the Daily Mail on the June 12 Air India crash in which 241 people on board were killed, including 53 British nationals.

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“All mortal remains were handled with utmost professionalism and with due regard for the dignity of the deceased. We are continuing to work with the UK authorities on addressing any concerns related to this issue,” he said.

The British newspaper, citing versions of two unnamed families, claimed that the repatriation of Britons killed in the crash has been “horrifically bungled”.

Bereaved families are suffering fresh heartache because the remains of their loved ones were wrongly identified before being flown home, it alleged.