NRI Anesthesiologist to sue Air India over false death news of his wife on board

The doctor heralding from Washington DC told the Times of India that he has been informed about the death of his wife by a person who introduced himself as the manager of the Air India office at New Delhi airport. He stated that the news " left me rattled and immobile for a few minutes at my home in Thiruvananthapuram. The gentleman told me that my wife  has expired on board the flight. He passed me the contact number of one Singh whom he introduced as the AI manager in Washington DC and asked me to make arrangements for receiving the corpse from the flight."

After receiving the news the doctor repeatedly asked the person concerned to verify the identity of the passenger and also provided him with the necessary information regarding her however he confirmed the news of the death.

The doctor was in utter shock and disbelief by the news and in order to confirm the news, he immediately called the caretaker of the Washington DC home. The caretaker however informed him that his wife had called the caretaker and confirmed that she would be reaching their Washington DC home soon. The doctor told the daily that " I am surprised as the casual manner in which wrong information about someone's death was passed on."

He also added, "I have decided to sue airline heavily. The mental trauma and stress that the false information gave me were way beyond words."

The doctor stated that one of the passengers really did die in the flight and she had wrongly occupied the business class seat booked under the name of his wife.  Hence the airway might have got confused and declared his wife as dead. The doctor stated, " I presume that the AI staff had chosen to go by the contact number they got on the PNR code of the ticket. But I fail to understand why they refused to have a relook at the passenger's details even after several please." 

After receiving the information about the incident, the Air India authority clarified that they will be dealing with the complaint seriously and will be taking necessary steps once the crew returns from the US. " Right now we don't know what went wrong normally such messages from flying aircraft are communicated on the basis of the PNR code of the passengers on board. We have our sympathy for the aggravated person and will definitely look into the matter," a spokesperson told TOI.