New Delhi, 23 July

India on Wednesday trashed a British media report which claimed that two grieving families in the UK received wrong bodies of the victims of the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said all mortal remains were handled with utmost professionalism and with due regard for the dignity of the deceased.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner of Air India crashed into a building shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad for London on 12 June, killing 241 people on board and 19 others on the ground. One passenger survived.

The victims included 53 British nationals.

"We have seen the report and have been working closely with the UK side from the moment these concerns and issues were brought to our attention," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

"In the wake of the tragic crash, the concerned authorities had carried out identification of victims as per established protocols and technical requirements," he said.

Jaiswal was responding to media queries regarding a report in the Daily Mail on the Air India crash.

"All mortal remains were handled with utmost professionalism and with due regard for the dignity of the deceased. We are continuing to work with the UK authorities on addressing any concerns related to this issue," he said.

The British newspaper, citing versions of two unnamed families, claimed that the repatriation of Britons killed in the crash has been "horrifically bungled".

Bereaved families are suffering fresh heartache because the remains of their loved ones were wrongly identified before being flown home, it alleged.

Relatives of one victim had to abandon funeral plans after being informed that their coffin contained the body of an unknown passenger rather than their family member, it said.

The report even added that though two instances of mistaken identity have so far come to light, there are fears that more such errors could have been made.