Miten Patel remembers the day hospital staff in Ahmedabad drew two vials of his blood to help identify his parents. He had landed in the Indian city hours earlier with his brother, carrying dental records for Ashok and Shobhana Patel. "We had to fly Air India to get there, because there were no other flights," he said.
A year ago, on 12 June, his parents were flying home to London when their Air India flight crashed just 32 seconds after take-off from Ahmedabad. They were among 260 people – 241 on the plane and 19 on the ground – killed in one of the worst aviation accidents in India's history. One passenger miraculously survived: 39-year-old Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a Briton who had lived in Leicester for more than 20 years. His brother Ajay died in the crash.
“Air India crash families face misidentified remains a year on; sole survivor struggling on £21,500”
It took more than a week for the Patels' remains to be returned to the UK. Four days later, Miten received a call from police in London. A CT scan had revealed that his mother's casket also contained the remains of someone else – additional "skeletal parts". Police asked Miten not to tell anyone, not even his family, for weeks. "I said to them, look, I would sincerely request that you separate my mother from whoever else," he said. Further testing showed his mother's remains had been mixed with those of an unidentified man. The Patel family waited another month before they could cremate her remains, postponing Ashok's last rites so they could be done together.
A UK inquest has been opened into the death of the man in Shobhana Patel's casket, who still hasn't been identified. In a hearing this week, UK Coroner Fiona Wilcox said they had "sent palm prints and DNA to India in an attempt to identify this gentleman but to date we have had no confirmation as to his name". She added it was "obviously very unusual" to open inquests nearly a year after the death.
The challenge for emergency workers at the crash site was immense, with hundreds of casualties and many bodies burned and torn apart. The wreckage was scattered across 37,000 sq m, the equivalent of five football pitches, as the plane collided with accommodation for medical students and broke apart.
A year on, the sole survivor, Mr Ramesh, has called for "honesty, transparency and answers". In a statement, he said: "What many people perhaps don't fully appreciate is that the trauma didn't end on the day of the disaster. I live with the significant psychological scars, the loss of my brother, and the constant unanswered questions around how and why this happened."
Investigators have yet to publish their final findings into the cause of the crash. A preliminary report from India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau found both of the plane's fuel switches moved to the "cut-off" position "immediately" after take-off, stopping fuel supply to the engine.
Mr Ramesh has to date received £21,500 from Air India to support his wife and five-year-old son – an interim payment provided to all families who lost loved ones. His representative, Sanjiv Patel, said: "He continues to struggle physically, psychologically and financially. ... The reality is that Viswash and his family continue to face significant financial hardship. Due to the physical and psychological impact of the crash he has been unable to return to work and support his family in the way he once did, leaving them currently living on less than £1,000 per month."
Mr Patel added: "We've repeatedly asked to meet the chief executive of Air India but that has not happened." He said recent discussions with executives of Air India and representatives of the Tata Group were "constructive" but "a number of important issues remain under discussion".
Meanwhile, the unidentified man in Shobhana Patel's casket remains nameless. Coroner Wilcox said: "The identity of the unidentified male remains outstanding. I hope that identification will be forthcoming."