The mother of an Air India plane crash victim has said her family is “heartbroken” after learning her son's remains had been misidentified, The Sunday Times reports.
On June 12, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner en route to London collided with a medical college shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad airport, killing all 241 people on board.
Among the dead were about 169 Indian passengers and 52 British citizens, making it one of the deadliest air disasters for Britons.
Among the British victims were Fionghal Greenlaw-Mick (39) and his husband Jamie (45), who were returning to the UK after celebrating their wedding anniversary in India.
Mr Greenlaw-Meek's mother, Amanda Donaghy, told The Sunday Times that after the crash she travelled to India to find her son's remains and provided a DNA sample to Ahmedabad Civil Hospital to help with the identification process.
After the match on June 20, she returned to the UK with Mr Greenlaw-Meek's coffin.
However, on July 5, as Mr Greenlaw-Meek and his husband's families were preparing for a joint funeral, police informed Ms Donaghy that DNA tests carried out in the UK had shown that Mr Greenlaw-Meek's remains were not in the coffin.
“We don't know who's in that coffin,” she told The Sunday Times.
“I had my doubts, but to hear that was terrifying.
“It's terrible what happened,” she added.
“And now we want the British government to do everything possible to find out and bring Fionghala home.”
Last week, it emerged that the coffin of another repatriated Briton, 71-year-old Shobhana Patel, contained the remains of several people, The Sunday Times reported.
Ms Patel was killed along with her husband Ashok (74) as they returned to the UK from a religious trip.
Their son Miten Patel told The Sunday Times: “There may have been a mistake.
“But for religious reasons we have to make sure that my mother is my mother and not the remains of someone else.
“It's really important for us to know 100% that this is my mother.”
Shobhana and Ashok Patel were buried last week, The Sunday Times reported.
International aviation lawyer James Healy-Pratt, whose firm Keystone Law represents the families
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
