Air India crash relatives write to Downing Street

A man whose parents were killed alongside 51 other British citizens in the Air India plane crash has urged Downing Street to act following the "catastrophic handling" of the incident.

Ashok and Shobhana Patel were among the 260 people who died when the plane crashed shortly after it left Ahmedabad Airport, western India, for Gatwick on 12 June 2025. One passenger survived.

After his parents' remains returned to the UK, Miten Patel was told his mother's casket also contained someone else's remains.

In an open letter on behalf of victims' families, he called on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to act on his "legacy of truth". The government said the Foreign Office continued to support the families.

Miten Patel said: "I lost both my father, Ashok, and my mother, Shobhanaben, in a single afternoon, and for 15 months we have faced nothing but a wall of institutional silence.

"Learning via UK post-mortem CT scans that my mother's body was commingled is a violation of human dignity, matched only by the horror of the Greenlaw-Meek family being sent entirely the wrong remains."

He said the "severe lack of communication" with the families of the crash victims was "adding to the grief that we have".

In the letter to the prime minister and foreign secretary, Miten Patel urged Burnham to show the crash victims' relatives the same "determination and commitment to truth that he showed the Hillsborough families".

He wrote: "Throughout your political career, most notably in your pivotal work surrounding the Hillsborough disaster, you championed grieving families who were systemically ignored by the state.

"I ask you to bring that same determination to truth and accountability to the victims of Air India Flight AI171 and their families."

He also called for the UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch to formally investigate the crash as well as a "bilateral inquiry" into the "mishandling" of victims' remains.

Due to the crash location, Indian authorities are responsible for the investigation and formal identification of bodies.

A spokesperson for the government said: "Our thoughts remain with all the families and loved ones of the victims in this tragic accident.

"The Foreign Office continues to provide support to each family in need of help, including dedicated consular caseworkers, and we remain in contact with the Indian authorities."

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