Relatives of Air India disaster victim reveal they were sent the wrong remains by Indian authorities
Fiongal Greenlaw-Meek, and his partner Jamie, were among the 261 people killed when Air India Flight AI171 crashed after take-off from Ahmedabad.
The pair had travelled to India for a peaceful 10-day wellness retreat.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Amanda Donaghey said she was sent the remains of the wrong person by the Indian authorities.
She said after arriving in India following the crash, the authorities asked her to present a blood sample to match the DNA for testing.
'Visiting the site and seeing it was something I felt like I had to do. I wanted to understand what had happened,' she told the newspaper.
She went onto describe what she saw, saying the area in which the plane crashed resembled a warzone.
'I remember all these burnt trees. The trees were scorched black. But there were still birds and squirrels in those trees, which I found quite profound. It was like a bomb site.'
'You would think it was from a war scene, but there were still these small birds twittering,' she said.
She was told the body of her son would be sent to England in a sealed casket. The paper reports that further DNA testing by a coroner in the UK revealed that the remains sent over were the wrong ones.
'It was heartbreaking,' she said.
'We don't know what poor person is in that casket. This is an appalling thing to have happened.'
Ms Donaghey has joined others in demanding the UK government pressure the Indian government to do more to help, as more families across the UK revealed on Sunday that they had similar things happen to them.
A total of 52 British citizens died in the catastrophe, which claimed the lives of all but one of the 242 people on board, as well as 19 people on the ground.
Only a dozen UK victims' remains have been repatriated so far.
In a statement posted to X, Air India said it continued to support the victims and their families.
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