British families of Air India victims sent wrong bodies ‘commingled’ in coffins

Some of the remains of the 261 victims have been wrongly identified before being repatriated to families in the UK (Picture: Reuters)

Grieving loved ones of those who were killed in the Air India crash are being sent the wrong bodies.

Some of the remains of the 261 victims have been wrongly identified before being repatriated to families in the UK.

The relatives of one victim was even forced to abandon their funeral plans after being told the coffin contained the body of an unknown passenger.

In one case the remains of two victims who have been ‘commingled’ together have also been placed in the same casket.

They had to be separated before the funeral took place.

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Start your day informed with Metro's News Updates newsletter or get Breaking News alerts the moment it happens.Inner West London coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox has ordered all repatriated bodies to be matched with DNA samples provided by the families.Caption: A family member cries upon hearing the news of her brother who died when the Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane crashed in Ahmedabad (Picture: Reuters)Firefighters work at the site of a plane crash (Picture: EPA)‘Family X have no-one to bury because it was the wrong person in their casket. And if isn’t their relative,the question is,who is it in that coffin? Presumably it’s another passenger and their relatives have been given the wrong remains,’ he added.Recovery teams used sniffer dogs and search equipment to find the bodies,with locals also volunteering to help sift through the smoldering remains.Within three days all of the victims were believed to have been found,but most bodies were burnt beyond recognition.A government spokesperson said: ‘Formal identification of bodies is a matter for the Indian authorities.‘We understand that this is an extremely distressing time for the families,and our thoughts remain with them.’