“We just want to bring Fiongal home." Grieving mother of Fiongal Greenlaw-Meek receives wrong body after Air India crash

A British mother has spoken of her devastation after discovering that the body returned to her following the tragic Air India crash was not that of her son.

Amanda Donaghey, whose son Fiongal Greenlaw-Meek died alongside his husband Jamie in the crash of Air India Flight 171, was preparing to lay her son to rest in the UK when a second DNA test revealed a harrowing mistake: the remains she had received were not his.

Fiongal, 39, and Jamie, 45, had been returning from a holiday in India celebrating their wedding anniversary when their flight crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad on 12 June. The Boeing 787 aircraft went down in a residential area, killing 260 people on board and one person on the ground. It was the first fatal incident involving the Dreamliner model.

Ms Donaghey, who had travelled from her home in France to India to oversee the repatriation, was initially told by Indian authorities that her son’s body had been identified through DNA testing. However, upon arrival in the UK, a British coroner ordered a second test which confirmed the remains were not Fiongal’s.

“We don’t know what poor person is in that casket,” she told reporters. “This is an appalling thing to have happened.”

The mix-up has left the family unable to bury Fiongal alongside Jamie, whose body had already been correctly identified and interred. The couple had shared a final video on social media captioned “Goodbye India” just before boarding the ill-fated flight.

The incident has sparked wider concerns about the handling of victims’ remains. At least one other family has reported receiving the wrong body, and questions are being raised about the thoroughness of the identification process in India. Some victims were reportedly buried without undergoing a second DNA test.

Aviation lawyer James Healey Pratt, representing several bereaved families, said: “These families deserve answers about how this co-mingling of DNA and misidentification of remains occurred.”

The British government has said it is liaising with Indian authorities and has acknowledged the distress caused. The matter is expected to be raised at the highest diplomatic levels, with Sir Keir Starmer reportedly planning to discuss it with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Air India has issued an apology and offered interim compensation to affected families, but for Ms Donaghey and others, the pain remains raw.

“We just want to bring Fiongal home,” she said.