“Right now, we feel utterly abandoned.”
The families of three British victims of the Air India crash in Ahmedabad have accused the UK government of abandoning them.
A Dreamliner en route to Gatwick crashed just after take-off from Ahmedabad last week, killing 229 passengers and 12 crew. One person survived.
Among the dead were 53 British nationals, 169 Indian citizens, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian.
In a joint statement, the bereaved British families said they had travelled to India to be close to their loved ones but were met with “a disjointed, inadequate, and painfully slow government reaction”.
They have demanded an urgent increase in the UK’s response on the ground in Gujarat.
A family spokesperson said: “There is no UK leadership here, no medical team, no crisis professionals stationed at the hospital.
“We are forced to make appointments to see consular staff based 20 minutes away in a hotel, while our loved ones lie unidentified in an overstretched and under-resourced hospital.”
Another family member said: “We’re not asking for miracles – we’re asking for presence, for compassion, for action.”
“Right now, we feel utterly abandoned.”
The statement outlined several “key concerns”, including what the families called a “lack of transparency and oversight in the identification and handling of remains”.
They are calling for a full crisis team at the hospital within 24 hours, a British-run identification unit, and financial support for those who have lost family members.
A local doctor had “confirmed” that delays in releasing bodies were “linked to severe understaffing”, the families said.
They also called for an independent inquiry into the UK government’s handling of the tragedy.
The statement added: “Our loved ones were British citizens. They deserved better in life. They certainly deserve better in death.”
This comes after relatives and friends of victims criticised the Indian authorities over the slow release of information.
Families have camped at the hospital for days, providing DNA samples, which are being matched and it is painstakingly slow.
Due to the nature of the crash, many bodies have been disfigured beyond recognition.
Dr Rajnish Patel, a senior doctor of the B J Medical College, said:
“The DNA of 11 victims of the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad has been matched with their family members so far.
“The process of matching DNA has to be done meticulously. It has legal and medical implications, so one can not rush through it.”
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