Amanda Donaghey, the mother of Fiongal Greenlaw-Meek who was killed in the recent Air India crash, has shared her heartbreak after they discovered they had the wrong body for his funeral.
Greenlaw-Meek, 39, and his husband Jamie, 45, were among 260 people killed in the crash of Flight 171 just moments after it took off from Ahmedabad on 12th June.
They were flying back to Britain after celebrating their wedding anniversary in India. The couple shared a video on their company’s Instagram shortly before the take off. When the crash occurred just over 30 seconds after take off all but one of the 230 passengers and 12 crew members were killed.
Donaghey travelled to India in the wake of the crash, and provided DNA samples to help authorities identify her son’s body.
Eight days after the accident Fiongal’s body was identified and the mother returned to the UK to bury her son. Sadly when more tests were conducted in Britain, they learned the body they were about to bury was someone else.
“We don’t know what poor person is in that casket,” she told The Sunday Times. “I had my doubts but to be told that was heart-breaking. This is an appalling thing to have happened.
“We would now like the British government to do everything in its power to… bring Fiongal home.” she said.
Authorities are still investigating what caused the tragic accident. A preliminary report released in early July revealed that the plane’s crash could be attributed to both engines losing thrust after their fuel switches moved from the ‘run’ setting to the ‘cutoff’ setting. No cause for the switch movement has been given and investigations are continuing.
