The remains of a woman who died in the 2025 Air India crash were wrongly identified and repatriated to the UK under another victim’s name, an inquest has heard.
The remains of Vasuben Narendrasinh Raj, 70, were sent to the UK under another name, only to be correctly identified after a DNA test.
She was among the 241 passengers killed after the London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed in western India’s Gujarat state on 12 June 2025. The plane slammed into a medical college building shortly after take off, killing 19 more people on the ground. Only one passenger, a British national of Indian origin named Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, survived the crash.
Inquests have now opened for two victims of the crash, including the 70-year-old woman and a second individual who is yet to be identified.
On Tuesday, senior coroner professor, Fiona Wilcox, told Inner West London Coroner’s Court that it was “obviously very unusual” to open inquests nearly a year after death.
She told an online hearing that Raj’s remains were flown into the UK under another person’s name, but when the remains were tested, it was confirmed they were not of that person.
Only one person survived in the crash of Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, in Ahmedabad, India (Reuters)Westminster Public Mortuary then sent the remains for DNA testing, and sent the results to the Indian authorities, who then confirmed that they were those of Raj.
“There have been extensive inquiries ongoing in the background and we have only recently been able to make contact with the son of Ms Raj,” she said.
In a separate case heard at the inquest, an unidentified male victim’s remains had been mixed with those of another crash victim and were later separated through forensic examination.
The back of Air India flight 171 is pictured at the site after it crashed in a residential area near the airport in Ahmedabad on 12 June 2025 (AFP via Getty Images)“We have 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 or any of the other registration that the court is able and required to find,” she said.
“The identity of the unidentified male remains outstanding. I hope that identification will be forthcoming,” she added.
Full inquests will be held once results from the Indian investigation are available.
Detective Inspector Mike Buck, who was also part of the hearing, said: “We have been working for some time with [the] British High Commission in India to make those identifications.”
