In an exclusive interview with ITV News, Nick and Teresa Meek criticised Air India for an email with distressing images of their loved one’s burnt clothing
Words by Sejal Karia, ITV News Correspondent, and Sarika Gandhi, Deputy Content Editor
Warning: This article contains details and images that some readers may find distressing
The family of one of the Air India crash victims has criticised the company for sending them a distressing email over Christmas – without warning – which contained images of their loved one’s burnt clothing.
Jamie Meek was one of the 53 British nationals who lost their life on June 12, 2025, when the Gatwick-bound Air India flight 171 crashed shortly after take-off in Ahmedabad.
A total of 241 passengers and crew died, and it was the greatest loss of British life in an aviation disaster since 9/11.
Jamie was celebrating his wedding anniversary in India with his partner, Fiongal, who also died on the flight.
The video of the couple moments before boarding their flight back home has been viewed by many around the world.
Seven months on from the crash, his family has told ITV News of their shock and anger at the airline.
They received an email without warning from Air India, just four days after Christmas and their first without Jamie, that contained distressing images of his burnt clothes.
Jamie’s brother, Nick, said: “I opened the email, and it was pictures of the clothes that he was wearing on the plane at the time of the crash.”
The email contained distressing images of Jamie’s distinctive jungle print shirt that could be recognised from the video he had taken before boarding the flight.
“My initial thought was anger, shock and then turned to a bit of sadness… The timing of it was appalling,” Nick said.
“It just really brought it home, actually, that he was wearing those clothes when he, when he passed away.”
A few hours after receiving this email, Nick replied, expressing his dismay. ITV News understands he has had no response from Air India.
Nick gave ITV News permission to broadcast the distressing images.
He said: “I just want people to understand…this whole incident could have happened to anybody…it’s just haunting us.”
Nick added that he was so upset by the pictures, he decided not to show them to his mother.
“It was that bad. I didn’t show her the pictures. It was completely… heartless,” he said.
Jamie’s mother, Teresa Meek, still hasn’t seen the images that were sent.
“I don’t want to see it. I don’t know who would,” she said. “How dare they think that we’d want to see clothes that were burnt?”
The email also included a link, giving all bereaved families access to a database of belongings from everyone who died.
Nick can’t bring himself to view the database, but described to ITV News what he understood was on the online portal.
“It’s just a huge catalogue of deceased people’s items, which I just find really, really disrespectful,” he said.
“Why would you want to sift through your own families, let alone people’s [belongings] that you’ve never met?”
ITV News has also seen another email sent to Nick from Air India dated December 22, 2025.
It stated that it was starting the process of returning personal belongings and that a “list” would be sent to the family.
Air India added that it would handle the process of returning personal effects with “care and dignity”.
Instead, on December 29, the family received an attachment that contained the distressing images.
Keith Barrett from Fieldfisher, representing the family, told ITV News: “This was Nikki and Teresa’s first Christmas without their son and brother. Sending them photographs of the clothes Jamie was wearing when he died, without any warning, was unbelievably insensitive of Air India.”
In the hours and days that followed, families across the world were waiting for news after the plane crash. Nick says no one from Air India contacted him.
As we sat in Nick’s home, just outside Birmingham, he reflected on how friends tried to call an Air India helpline that was set up in the aftermath to help families.
No one answered, he told ITV News. The airline’s communication, Nick feels, was at best unpredictable.
“I’d say its [communication] was virtually non-existent,” he said. “We were just helpless.”
A final report into the crash is expected on the first anniversary in June 2026.
We put our reporting to Air India, who said: “We understand that receiving the personal belongings of a loved one following this tragic incident is an incredibly emotional and difficult moment.
“We are working tirelessly to return over 22,000 items to relatives, and our priority has been to handle this with compassion and dignity. We accept that on this occasion, we did not get this right for Mr Meek’s family.
“We are truly sorry for the additional distress caused and have now written to them to apologise. Air India remains committed to doing everything we can to support every family member as they navigate through this process.”
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