Air India crash victim’s family devastated after receiving wrong remains
The family of a British man who died in the recent Air India crash was left heartbroken after discovering they had been given another victim’s remains by mistake.
39-year-old Fiongal Greenlaw-Meek and his husband Jamie Ray Meek, 45, were among 53 British nationals who lost their lives in the tragedy on 12 June.
Fiongal (left) and Jamie (right)
Source: Facebook via The Guardian
The couple had been returning to the United Kingdom (UK) after celebrating their wedding anniversary in India when their plane crashed into a college dormitory shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad Airport.
According to Al Jazeera, the aircraft broke apart on impact before bursting into flames, killing all but one of the 242 people on board.
Source: @citizen_kau on X
Only part of victim’s body found
Fiongal’s mother, Amanda Donaghey, travelled to India to visit the crash site and bring home her son’s remains.
She told The Sunday Times that seeing the site for herself felt like something she “had to do”, wanting to understand what had happened.
Source: @aviationbrk on X
Ms Donaghey also provided a blood sample upon arrival and was informed three days later, on 20 June, that a DNA match for Fiongal had been confirmed.
“I was told they had found part of Fiongal but not all of him,” she said. “I said I wanted to stay until they had finished looking.”
Meanwhile, Jamie’s body had been recovered and returned to the UK in a coffin on 26 June.
Source: @aviationbrk on X
When Ms Donaghey returned to the crash site a second time, emergency workers told her: “There is nothing left to find.”
Around that time, she was also informed by British officials that one of the coffins already sent back to the UK — that of 71-year-old Shobhana Patel — was found to contain the remains of multiple individuals.
“That was when I was really starting to worry about the recovery process,” Ms Donaghey shared.
Remains were not her son’s
On 28 June, Ms Donaghey flew back to the UK on an Air India flight with what she believed to be her son’s remains.
She had made the difficult decision to return quickly, as the conditions for preserving bodies at the Indian hospital were not up to British standards.
Upon arrival, the remains were handed over to the senior coroner for further DNA testing, while Ms Donaghey returned to her home in Cambridgeshire to await the results.
Source: The Sunday Times
Just as the families were beginning to plan a joint funeral for Fiongal and Jamie, they received devastating news: the remains Ms Donaghey had brought back were not her son’s.
“I had my doubts, but to be told that was heartbreaking,” she said.
At that point, the families realised they would no longer be able to lay the couple to rest together.
Victims’ families hope British government will intervene
Since learning that the wrong remains had been returned, Ms Donaghey and her family have been contacting the Foreign Office daily in hopes of finding out what happened to Fiongal.
“All the time, I feel like I’m just standing on the edge of a black hole thinking, ‘Has he been disposed of?’” she said.
She added that the family longs to perform funeral rites for Fiongal so they can begin to grieve and move forward.
“It was heartbreaking,” she said. “We don’t know what poor person is in that casket. This is an appalling thing to have happened.”
The family is now urging the British government “to do everything in its power” to bring Fiongal home.
James Healy-Pratt, whose firm is representing the families of the crash victims, said his clients are appealing to the Foreign Office and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to step in as Indian authorities have “not been transparent or helpful”.
A preliminary investigation into the crash found that both engines of the aircraft had suddenly cut out for unknown reasons, causing a rapid loss of altitude.
A full report is expected within the year, according to the BBC.
Also read: Air India crash survivor walked away from wreckage, looking for missing brother
Air India crash survivor walked away from wreckage, looking for missing brother
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Featured image adapted from @wellnessfoundry on Instagram and @aviationbrk on X.
