Up next in 10
The son of a couple who died in the Air India crash told Nick Ferrari he wants answers as the inquiry continues.
Miten Patel, whose parents Ashok and Shobhana were travelling home to visit their sons and grandchildren on 12 June, when the plane crashed in Ahmedabad, western India, killing all but one of those on board.
There were 242 passengers and crew on the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, including 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian.
After the crash, the victims' remains were identified by the Indian authorities, however Mr Patel discovered "other remains" were in his mother's casket when her body was returned to the UK.
Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp
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0:00
But let's go to those horrific events concerning the Air India crash a couple of months ago
0:04
And there has been concern that has been expressed about the British Foreign Office
0:09
and other offices and other organisations not doing enough for the relatives
0:13
Remember, of course, there were 52 British nationals that died in that fatal plane crash in West India
0:19
just minutes after take-off. And I've said many times on the radio, it doesn't feel like a tragedy where 52 Britons
0:25
I know that many, many more people died, of course, lost their lives. and relatives are asking a series of questions
0:31
and also asking for some help, one of whom is in the studio with me, Mithen Patel
0:36
May I call you Mithen, or do you prefer Mr Patel? No, Mithen's fine. Mithen, thank you for coming in
0:40
Obviously, I don't want to cause you too much distress, and this is something you've had to deal with for some weeks now
0:45
Can I ask you to tell my listeners who you lost? Yeah, we lost our parents, Ashok and Shobna Patel
0:51
They were our family, everything for us. It's a big void that can never be filled
0:57
And were they travelling to see friends in India? No, they actually went to do a pilgrimage
1:01
There's two that you normally do in the Hindu culture. This was the last one, and it kind of, I guess, opens the gates of heaven when you do pass
1:09
But they went way too soon. And you have siblings, do you? I do. I have a younger brother. I have my wife Shivani, and my two kids as well
1:16
And am I right? I was told that your dad used to listen to this show, is that right? He did, yeah
1:22
Well, at least that's made you smile. Listening to you specifically in the mornings and got me doing it when I started travelling on the roads
1:28
Did he like what he heard? He did. He did. Oh, well, that's good. OK, well, that's lifted them a little
1:33
Let's come to these serious matters. You learn, obviously, of the horror. What happened next
1:38
What agencies have helped you? What agencies haven't helped you? So, in all honesty, I think there's been mix from everyone
1:46
You know, originally with the civil hospital, they were very good. They were checking the IDs at every single stage
1:51
we were able to get the identifications done over there I did my own personal checks with my father and my mother
1:57
so I was quite confident and then obviously we came back here
2:01
and then there was a re-identification opened by Dr Fiona Wilcox and her team
2:06
Sorry, is she the local coroner? She is In what area is that
2:11
Westminster Westminster Coroner All of the repatriated bodies came to Westminster and there was an inquest done there
2:18
In all honesty, the support that I've got from Dr Wilcox and my police liaison Martin Roberts has been phenomenal on this side of the pond
2:27
You know we were able to obviously determine from CT scan that mums in addition to mums remains there are additional remains in there Who they are what they were I don know That not been disclosed And the CT scans are conducted in the United Kingdom are they
2:41
Yes, they were after repatriation. Right. So that whole process opened up and there was a lot of frustration
2:47
but I have to be thankful to Dr Wilcox and her team for tirelessly finding this out
2:53
But just to clarify then, and I don't want to call you additional distress, but so there were parts of your mother's casket
3:01
body parts that were not your mother? Yes, essentially. And we still don't know
3:04
So with my mother, there were additional remains or further remains is what they've classed it as
3:10
that were included in the casket. So they needed to be separated and that was going to be the procedure
3:15
but I wanted that to be done because as a Hindu, we cremate and we need to cremate 100% of my mother
3:21
not with somebody else. Of course, I see. So it did delay the process but we were able to do the funerals together after about a month and a week
3:29
Right. Again, I'm sorry to press, but your father's casket was complete, was it
3:33
Yeah, that was fine. OK, right. They checked DNA when we came back to the UK as well
3:38
Further DNA was taken here and that's what they'd ysed it with
3:42
And what of Air India and what of other organisations? What sort of support or lack have you experienced, Mitter
3:48
Yeah, I would say that at the moment, unfortunately, from Air India, Boeing, Kenyan
3:53
we have no no correspondence whatever air india boeing and kenyan kenyan they were the disaster
3:58
management company oh the kenyan company from the united they go into train crashes yes they
4:02
go they recover the the luggage or anything like that so um in terms of uh communication from them
4:08
there's a lack of um to be honest we everything that myself and the other family members are
4:14
finding out is through media so a little bit of kind of empathy or something to say look we are
4:19
going to be doing this or we're at this stage of the process yeah it would help so i mean obviously
4:25
of course i'll do whatever i can what what questions do you want to get out there what
4:29
what do you and is there a group of relatives now you've formed yourself no we haven't we haven't
4:33
got a group per se um but you know you you speak i mean we held um a kind of a memorial service at
4:40
the satya vespatida in wembley and the trustees have helped me organize that um and we brought
4:44
together three of the families but we were praying for everybody yeah uh and that's when we kind of
4:48
had the connection, you know, well, we're going through the same grief
4:52
if you will, and that's where we kind of have the conversations. So what more needs to be
4:56
done? I know you've brought some notes in or something. What is it you feel needs to be done? Because please
5:00
whatever opportunity I can provide for you, I'm happy to do so. Yeah, I think really
5:04
I mean, for the families, we need to have the strength and courage to ride this out I think that primary report opened too many more questions than closed the questions It opens it up to speculation of you know this could be a theory or that could be a theory But the report itself there too many you know immediately after this
5:23
But you should have timestamps. And, you know, there's a bit... Sorry, so just to back up, you say it opened a lot of questions
5:28
Might I ask what sort of questions are going through your head? You know, for us, I mean, we're in no way, shape or form aviation experts
5:35
No, no, of course. So that report was very, very aviation jargon. But there's bits that you figure out that, okay, the black box recovery of the CVR
5:45
you'd find out, okay, you've got that initial bit that, you know, why did you cut off? I did not
5:51
But then there's a gap. Sorry, why did I cut off? Why did who cut off? So in the report, it doesn't say that the pilot
5:58
but it says there's a recording there that says that one of the pilots has said, why did you cut off
6:02
I see, to the other pilot. I see, yeah. This is the supposed line that there was no fuel supply
6:08
Yeah, well, this is what they're saying. So, again, there's a gap in between from the May Day call
6:13
and that initial conversation, but I don't understand why there's no transparency
6:17
as to that being released. Why is that gap there? If they've been able to recover this
6:24
again, I am no way an expert in this type of field. Have you listened to the audio then
6:28
No, no, I haven't. Would you want to hear the audio? I would be interested to hear what was on there
6:33
Yeah, because, I mean, again, not being an expert, but when you see that video of the crash itself
6:39
that nose was up in the air. So that, to me, seems like the pilots were fighting to get that airborne
6:45
But again, you know, there's different things that will come out. But I think we have to wait for that one or two-year investigation report
6:54
to find out exactly what's going on. You're so together. We're talking about events in June
7:00
and you've seen the video of the plane where you lost your mother and father
7:03
This is... OK. Let's move lastly then to the investigation. Again, help me if you would
7:10
Is this being conducted by Indian aviation authorities, UK aviation authorities or joint operation
7:16
I believe from what I've read in the media, it's India and the US that are dealing with the investigation
7:22
Because they have a higher level of investigation in this area. I believe so. Right, OK
7:25
I may be wrong. No. And what ultimately do you and the other relatives
7:29
what do you need to hear that will give you some kind of, or closure, let's use the word, you'll never get comfort, some kind of closure. What do you need
7:37
to know? Yeah, I don't think we're ever going to get closure, if I'm honest with you. I'm sorry. I think it good to get an understanding of why this happened what happened and ultimately it whoever responsible for it to take accountability and responsibility Like okay you know what hands up here it was our problem you know whether it was the maintenance or whether
7:55
it was actually an electronic or fault you know these are all again theories that are out there
7:59
but we really want to to be able to i guess the investigation team to piece that puzzle
8:04
to get us the proper conclusion the 30-day preliminary report doesn't really shed any
8:10
light on an actually what happened you know and have they given an indication when full report
8:15
will be published no nobody's given us do we know what typically the time slip is between preliminary
8:21
and actual full report or it's that's a piece of string question it's a piece of string question
8:25
i mean i've watched air investigation um documentaries and most of those have about a
8:30
year to plus it's a year is it from what i understand but then you know it just brings
8:35
into account the kind of the global aviation community as well because i've come across a
8:42
civil aviation authority notice which was ironically 15th of may so you're talking less
8:47
than a month before um the flight had taken off and that's uh it says here fuel shut off valve
8:54
mandatory actions on bowing aircraft and the 787 is included in that so if that was the uk
9:00
aviation network putting that out as a mandatory, why not everybody else
9:07
And when you try and contact Boeing, absolutely nothing? No, I haven't tried, if I'm honest with you
9:12
You haven't? Yeah. And lastly, do you think the Foreign Office or a British government department should be doing more
9:17
I would hope so. I think it would help us collectively trying to find these answers
9:22
Getting your mother's casket with some other remains, how did you really
9:26
Yeah, I found that out three days after I'd come back from India
9:30
after repatriating them. And I had to keep that between myself, you know
9:35
And that was very hard. It was very hard. I mean, in all honesty, you never want to be in a position
9:42
to ever imagine your parents being in this type of, you know, horrific accident
9:48
But I guess I had to keep my head straight, grieve a lot later on
9:53
I waited till the funeral because I had too much to kind of organise and prepare
9:57
but I was very, very determined to get them home. I wasn't prepared to do a funeral in India
10:04
They were coming home and that journey wasn't complete and I was very, very sure to bring them home to Orpington
10:11
so they'd come home for the last time. Thank you for coming in
10:16
I'm being told the reason the US authorities are involved is because Boeing is, of course, a US company
10:19
so that's why the US are doing it. So that maybe gives us a bit more background on that. Bishan, thank you for coming
10:24
I wish my condolences. Bishan Patel joining us on LBC
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