Air India Crash: Wrong Bodies Sent to UK, Indian DNA Checks Questioned

Air India Crash: Wrong Bodies Sent to Grieving Families

Consider a loved one dying in a horrible air crash. Their body is broken into pieces and burned. This happens in India, and you are a grieving family in the UK. The least you expect is to receive the correct remains, so you can hold a proper funeral and say goodbye to your loved one. But when the remains arrive from India, and you discover they are the wrong ones—perhaps even mixed body parts—the pain becomes unbearable. This is what has happened to many families of victims following the recent Air India crash of flight AI-171.

On Tuesday, The Daily Mail exposed a deeply troubling mishandling of the repatriation process for victims of the Air India crash. Families, already grappling with unthinkable loss, have been dealt further anguish due to misidentified remains sent back to the UK. In one case, relatives were forced to cancel funeral arrangements upon learning the coffin they received held the body of a stranger. In another instance, the remains of several victims were mistakenly placed together in a single casket. This error had to be corrected before the burial could take place, forcing families to endure the added trauma of this deeply distressing mishandling. 

One might expect this shocking mix-up of victims' remains to spark national outrage in India and trigger thorough investigations into the Air India crash. Instead, only a few media outlets reported on it, treating it as a brief aside—“this also happened”—before quickly moving on to other stories. As a result, the incident has been denied the serious attention and accountability it clearly deserves. 

Air India Crash: Wrong Bodies Sent, Fears Rise of More Mistakes

The shocking case of the dead body mix-up surfaced when Dr Fiona Wilcox, the Inner West London coroner, decided to confirm the identities of repatriated British victims through DNA matching with family-provided samples. While only two misidentifications have been confirmed so far, concerns persist that additional mistakes may lurk, enveloping more families in doubt. This development inflicts further unimaginable suffering on all victims' relatives. It demands an immediate question: Did similar errors occur in India during the handover of Indian victims' bodies? 

Local families may have completed funerals under the assumption they held their loved ones' true remains. Just how widespread was this incompetence, and doesn't it call for a thorough inquiry?

Among the 261 fatalities from the flight, which plummeted shortly after departing Ahmedabad bound for London Gatwick, 52 were British nationals heading home. James Healy-Pratt, an aviation lawyer acting for several of these families, informed British media that at least 12 sets of remains were sent back. He described spending considerable time with the bereaved, noting their primary desire is simply to recover their relatives' bodies correctly—yet some have endured the shock of wrong bodies being delivered, leaving them devastated. The problem has dragged on for weeks, and he insists these families merit clear answers, a sentiment that rings entirely true.

In highlighting one specific instance, Healy-Pratt dubbed it "Family X," where the relatives were left without anyone to inter because the casket held an unrelated individual. If those remains do not belong to their kin, he asked, then whose are they? Likely another passenger's, implying that additional families elsewhere could be unknowingly mourning over the wrong person.

Air India Crash: Govt Response Offers No Clarity or Accountability

Indian authorities had earlier claimed that DNA tests confirmed the identities of all victims. Air India, under the ownership of the Tata Group, has since stated it is looking into the issue of body mix-up but has yet to provide any official confirmation on the reported mix-ups.

In a press release issued on July 23, 2025, by the Ministry of External Affairs, Official Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal addressed the media reports concerning the Air India crash, specifically the story published in the Daily Mail. He confirmed that the Indian government had been working in close coordination with UK authorities from the moment concerns were raised about the handling of victims’ remains.

Jaiswal stated that the identification of the deceased was carried out in accordance with established international protocols and technical procedures. He emphasised that all mortal remains were managed with the highest standards of professionalism and with full respect for the dignity of the victims. The Indian government, he added, continues to engage with British authorities to resolve any outstanding concerns related to the matter.

This response from the Indian government feels strikingly casual, amounting to little more than a cosmetic statement designed to deflect criticism without offering concrete details or admissions. It avoids acknowledging any specific errors, provides no timeline for resolutions, and fails to outline steps for preventing future mishaps, leaving families to wonder if true accountability will ever materialise amid such perfunctory reassurances.

Air India Crash: Wrong Bodies News Shocks Grieving Families

The latest revelations about misidentified remains sent to UK families have rippled through Indian households still mourning their own losses from the Air India crash, sending waves of unease and renewed grief among those who believed the ordeal had ended. Social media and community forums in India have begun buzzing with anxious discussions, as families who hastily conducted cremations or burials in line with cultural traditions now confront the possibility that similar errors tainted local handovers. 

At the heart of these fears lies the fragile sense of closure that grieving Indian families clung to after performing last rites, often under immense emotional strain and without viewing the remains due to their condition. Now, with doubts cast over the DNA identification process, they question whether those ceremonies truly honoured their loved ones or unknowingly commemorated strangers. 

Such mishandling in the aftermath of the Air India crash is not an isolated incident; from the outset, Air India and the involved authorities have faced accusations of opacity and unprofessionalism right from the time the tragic crash occurred. Families arriving in India shortly after the June 12 disaster described the recovery efforts as chaotic, with local teams relying on volunteers to manually search the wreckage, raising early alarms about potential errors in body identification. 

Pilots' associations, including the Federation of Indian Pilots, have publicly decried the preliminary investigation report as biased and premature, suggesting it unfairly targets crew error while sidelining possible technical faults in the aircraft's fuel system. Further scrutiny has highlighted other lapses, such as the reported blocking of a UN aviation investigator from entering India, which has drawn international criticism for undermining transparency in the probe. 

Additionally, the airline's CEO faced backlash for an allegedly plagiarised post-crash statement, fueling perceptions of a poorly managed public response. Beyond these concerns, the UK's Stewarts law firm has accused Air India of pressuring families into completing intricate legal forms under the threat of withheld compensation, without offering clear explanations or advice. As the firm stated, clients were required to fill out questionnaires in sweltering conditions, lacking guidance on the implications, and later faced follow-ups implying no payments without compliance. Air India has however rejected these claims as baseless and misleading. In its defence, the airline emphasised its swift actions to distribute interim compensation to address families' urgent needs, with initial payouts occurring just days after the accident.

Air India Crash: How Did the Bungling Occur?

So, how did this bungling occur? The possible scenarios reveal the unprofessionalism shown by agencies in the wake of the Air India crash. Recovery efforts at the site were widely acknowledged as chaotic. Could first responders and authorities have hastily collected and tagged remains among the debris, causing early mislabelling or the mixing of body parts from different individuals? Might lapses have arisen in the chain-of-custody procedures, such as poor documentation or mistakes in aligning DNA samples from victims with family references, aggravated by forensic teams strained by the sheer volume of bodies? 

Errors could also have taken place during storage and repatriation, overseen by Air India's contractor, Kenyon International Emergency Services, with caskets possibly swapped or inadequately sealed amid logistical failures, heavy workloads, or lax checks prior to dispatch to the UK. In any event, Air India, the Tata Group, and the civil aviation ministry owe a full apology to every family involved. An investigation is undoubtedly required, but beyond that, they must step forward with honesty, approach the bereaved with genuine humility, and seek forgiveness for compounding their sorrow with this needless trauma.

To restore the faith of the grieving families, a transparent and independent investigation into the mishandling of victims’ remains must be conducted, with clear accountability established for any lapses. Authorities should provide regular updates, issue formal apologies where due, and ensure that all families receive accurate information about their loved ones. The entire chain of individuals and agencies responsible for this glaring lapse must be identified and held accountable, facing the most stringent action possible under the law. Most importantly, systemic reforms in disaster response protocols—particularly regarding the identification and repatriation of remains—must be implemented to prevent such failures in the future.

For the Indian families who lost loved ones in the Air India crash, it may now be too late to uncover the truth—most have already performed the final rites, believing they laid their own to rest. If those remains were not their family members, that mistake is irreversible. But what is not too late is for Air India, the Tata Group, and the Indian authorities to offer a sincere apology. They must acknowledge the pain caused, address the families with honesty and humility, and take responsibility for this failure. In moments of such deep grief, even the smallest gesture of truth and compassion matters. Silence, denial, or deflection will only deepen the wound.