Air India Plane Crash

Barry Gardiner Excerpts

Monday 16th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

I thank one of my hon. Friends from Bournemouth—the other MP for Bournemouth is unable to speak as she is a Parliamentary Private Secretary, but I know they have both been very engaged with the tragedy that is being felt across the city. We are doing everything we can to support people both in India and here in the UK, and we will continue to do so until people have navigated the full depths of this tragedy. I am particularly conscious of those going through the difficult but necessarily time-consuming process of identifying remains.

[Barry Gardiner (Brent West) (Lab)]

The Minister will be aware that as we speak, the Indian High Commission in London is holding a commemoration service for those who have been lost. He also knows that my constituency of Brent West, which includes Wembley, is the epicentre for the Gujarati community—more than 30% of my constituents are originally from Gujarat. I thank him for the way in which his officials have engaged and the help that they have been able to offer, but some of my constituents have had problems. The Saiyed family—mother, father and two adult children—were travelling together. Three of the bodies have been identified, but one body has not yet been identified. I understand that the DNA testing has now been randomised, but I urge the Minister to try to do everything he can to ensure that the four bodies can have the necessary funeral arrangements celebrated together, rather than waiting longer. He is absolutely right to say that it is important that the testing process is done correctly, to avoid further problems down the line, but families are in deep distress at the moment and it is important that we send every possible help to get the DNA testing done as quickly as possible.

[Mr Falconer]

I understand the force and the emotion behind my hon. Friend’s question. I have spoken to families about the obvious agonies of the process of identification. I will look into the circumstance that he describes. He mentioned the Indian High Commission, to whom I pass on my thanks for its hard work, particularly in rapidly facilitating visas for family members to be able to go out to see their loved ones.