Relatives of city family killed in air crash call for more help from UK Government

RELATIVES of a Gloucester family killed in the Air India plane crash are calling on the UK Government to provide more support on the ground in India. Akeel Nanabawa, his wife Hannaa Vorajee and their four-year-old daughter Sara Nanabawa were returning home to the UK when they died.

- Rod MINCHIN & Shannon BROWN

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed shortly after take-off on Thursday in what was one of the deadliest plane accidents in terms of the number of British nationals killed. The aircraft struck a medical college hostel in a residential part of Ahmedabad, killing 241 of the 242 people on board.

The sole surviving passenger was Briton Vishwash Kumar Ramesh. Air India said the plane was carrying 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian.

Mr Nanabawa ran a recruitment firm while his wife volunteered at a local Islamic school in Gloucester where they lived. Members of their family have flown from the UK to Ahmedabad following last week's tragedy.

"There is no UK leadership here, no medical team, no crisis professionals stationed at the hospital," said a family spokesman.

"We are forced to make appointments to see consular staff based 20 minutes away in a hotel, while our loved ones lie unidentified in an over-stretched and under-resourced hospital."