New Delhi: India Wednesday said it is “working closely” with the UK on the return of the mortal remains of those who perished in the Air India Flight 171 crash, after reports appeared in British media highlighting that the grieving families have been receiving wrongly identified bodies.
At least 52 passengers in the aircraft were citizens of the United Kingdom. One British citizen Vishwash Ramesh Kumar is the sole survivor from the air crash.
“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. In the wake of the tragic crash, the concerned authorities had carried out identification of victims as per established protocols and technical requirements,” the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement, in response to a report by the British tabloid Daily Mail.
The statement added: “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.”
The British tabloid Tuesday reported that a “top-level inquiry” is underway after Britons received caskets with wrongly identified remains, while another family found remnants of more than one person in the casket they received. In another case, a family had cancelled their funeral plans after being informed that the coffin they received held the body parts of another passenger, rather than their own family member.
A person familiar with the matter pointed out that the air crash “was a gruesome accident” and that the process to identify “body parts was a particularly complex exercise”. The person further highlighted that “in accidents of such nature, it is likely that body tissues of different people get fused which may lead to different results when making DNA analysis”.
According to the Daily Mail, the issue over the return of the remains of passengers is likely to figure in discussions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Keir Starmer.
Modi departed New Delhi Wednesday for a two-day visit to the UK, where he is set to call on King Charles III, apart from holding bilateral discussions with Starmer. The signing of the free trade agreement between the two countries is also likely to happen. Furthermore, India is set to flag the issues of Sikh separatism and cross-border terrorism.
After the UK, Modi will head to Maldives, where he will be the guest of honour for the Independence Day celebrations of the island country on 26 July.
The Air India Flight 171 disaster left at least 260 people dead on 12 June, when the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner lost power after take-off and crashed into the hostel of a medical college close to Ahmedabad airport. The flight was connecting Ahmedabad to London.
Soon after take-off, the fuel switches on Engine 1 and Engine 2 moved from “run” to “cutoff” essentially cutting the supply of fuel, according to the preliminary report released by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) earlier this month. The AAIB is continuing its investigation into the causes of the switch movement.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)