New Delhi, July 23 (UNI) Responding to a news report about an alleged mix up in the identification of bodies of two British nationals killed in the Air India flight 171 crash, India today said it is “working closely” with the UK to address the concerns.
Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal, responding the Daily Mail’s report, said that that the Indian authorities are working with their UK counterparts.
“”We’ve seen the report and have been working closely with the UK since these concerns were raised. Following the tragic crash, victim identification was carried out by authorities according to established protocols and technical requirements. All mortal remains were handled with utmost professionalism and dignity. We continue to work with UK authorities to address any related concerns,” the official said in a statement.
Notably, India’s response on the issue comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi begins a two-day official visit to the UK.
All but one of the 242 people on board were killed as the London-bound Boeing 787 flight crashed soon after take-off from Ahmadabad airport on June 12. Nineteen more people on the ground were also killed.
Fifty-two of the killed were British nationals.
On Tuesday, the UK’s Daily Mail newspaper reported that the bodies of two British victims were wrongly identified before being repatriated to the UK.
The news report claimed that relatives of one victim abandoned funeral plans after getting to know that their coffin had the body of an unknown passenger, and not that of their family member.
Similarly in another case, remnants of more than one person killed in the crash were mistakenly kept in the same casket. They were to be separated before being sent, the report claimed.
A high-level probe into the matter is underway in the UK and India, and that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is “expected to raise concerns” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the UK, it said.
