Families of Air India crash victims 'sent wrong bodies' in bungled repatriation
Grieving families of those killed in the Air India crash have been "sent the wrong bodies" in a bungled repatriation effort.
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Relatives of one victim had to abandon funeral plans after being informed that their coffin contained the body of an unknown passenger rather than their family member.
In another case, the "commingled" remnants of more than one victim were mistakenly placed in the same casket. The remains had to be separated before the funeral could go ahead last weekend.
The mistakes only came to light when Inner West London coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox sought to verify the repatriated Britons' identities by matching their DNA with samples provided by the families, reports MailOnline.
Labour PM and Minister for Migration and Citizenship, Seema Malhotra, said the Foreign Office stands ready to work with the Indian government to support the repatriation effort.
Read more: Air India captain 'cut off' fuel before fatal crash, US officials say
Ms Malhotra, who revealed four people in her constituency lost their lives in the tragedy, was unable to explain how the mistakes were made in the first place.
Speaking to LBC's Nick Ferrari she said the incident was "incredibly sad", and added: "It is important and this is a matter for India and for Air India, but it is the case that we continue to work closely with India on whichever way we can support and to support those families here. And clearly this has got to be sorted out."
A preliminary report into the Air India crash that killed 260 people in the north western city of Ahmedabad found that the switches shifted within one second of each other, cutting off fuel supply to both engines.
The report did not offer any conclusions as to why the plane crashed. It also did not say how the switches could have flipped from run position to the cutoff during the flight.
The movement of the fuel control switches allows and cuts fuel flow to the plane's engines.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed on June 12 shortly after takeoff. It killed all but one of the 242 people on board as well as 19 people on the ground.