Air India crash victim’s family furious after someone else’s remains were also sent home in casket

THE family of a mum killed in the Air India crash has blasted Indian authorities after someone else’s remains were also sent home in her casket.

NHS microbiologist Shobhana Patel, 71, died with her husband Ashok, 74, in the crash in June.

The couple, from Orpington, Kent, were repatriated in different coffins but DNA tests in Britain found other body parts along with Shobhana’s.

Her son Miten, 40, said: “I have no idea if the other remains were from more than one person.”

One family was sent the wrong body entirely.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs said: “All remains were handled with professionalism.”

Lawyer James Healy-Pratt, representing around 20 families, said: “They have been left in limbo.

“They have no-one to bury because the wrong body was in the casket.”

It is thought that only Indian authorities carried out DNA tests on victims with no input from any international agency.

Mr Healy-Prat added: “I am hearing that it was Indian authorities alone who identified remains and then placed them in caskets.

“The families want assurances that their loved ones have not been left behind somewhere in India because they don’t have confidence in the system.

“They have had the terrible shock of losing a loved one and then they go through more trauma when they learn it is not only their loved one in the casket, or it may not be their loved one at all.”