Mohammad Shethwala applied to extend his visa on humanitarian grounds after the tragedy, but on 9 April had his request rejected and was placed on immigration bail – an alternative to being detained for people without the legal right to be in the UK.

He moved to the UK from India in March 2022 with his wife, Sadikabanu, who was on a student visa studying at Ulster University’s London campus, Metro reported. Their daughter Fatima was born in the UK.

​Sadikabanu had just started a new job in Rugby and was about to apply for a skilled worker visa when her plane from Ahmedabad to London crashed seconds after takeoff on 12 June 2025, killing 260 people.

Her death meant Mohammad lost not just his family but his path to staying in the UK.

“If his wife had survived, he would still be allowed in the UK,” his friend Musab Taherwala told Metro. “If his daughter had survived, he would have been granted indefinite leave to remain when she turned seven.”

Mohammad’s lawyers argued he was dependent on his support network in the UK as he struggled with grief and mental health problems. He briefly returned to India after the crash but found the intense media coverage of the crash difficult to cope with.  

Being on immigration bail in the UK means he cannot work or apply for a new visa.

​His lawyers will challenge the Home Office’s decision in court and he will be allowed to stay during that process.

​“We are horrified at the callousness of the Home Office separating a grieving father and husband from his support network, who are caring for him and his mental wellbeing at this tragic time,” Fizza Qureshi, CEO of the Migrants’ Rights Network, told Metro.

The Labour government has adopted increasingly harsh and draconian anti-immigrant policies in recent years. Last year home secretary Shabana Mahmood announced plans to double the length of time it would take for migrants to be granted indefinite leave to remain.

She also unveiled a proposal to seize asylum seekers’ valuables, including their jewellery, to fund their accommodation costs.

Credits: Air India

The post Man Whose Whole Family Died in Air India Crash Denied Right to Stay in UK first appeared on AircrewNews.com.

British Airways has released a statement following reports that a deceased passenger remained in a galley for 13 hours during a flight.

The woman, aged in her 60s, passed away an hour into the journey from Hong Kong to London Heathrow. The pilots of the Airbus A350-1000 allegedly pressed on with the flight, with passengers now claiming there was a “foul smell” emanating from the area.

An unnamed source told The Sun the woman’s family were devastated, as were the cabin crew. They mentioned that numerous passengers wished to return to Hong Kong, but noted that a passenger death is not deemed an emergency. A British Airways spokesman told the Express: “A  customer sadly passed away and our thoughts are with their family and friends at this difficult time. We are supporting our crew and all procedures were correctly followed.”

The source revealed the flight deck suggested storing the body in a toilet, but this suggestion was turned down by crew members. Instead the body was covered and relocated to a galley at the rear of the aircraft, according to the same source, reports the Mirror. They claimed that by the journey’s end there was a “foul smell” around the galley area, which featured a heated floor. Upon the plane’s arrival in the UK, police boarded to investigate, requiring passengers to remain seated for 45 minutes. The source revealed: “A discussion was had about what to do with the body – with the flightdeck’s request to lock it in a toilet rejected by crew. So they had to isolate the body, wrap it in materials, and move it to a galley at the rear of the plane.

“The galley had a heated floor, which some crew had overlooked, and towards the end of the flight there were claims that a foul smell was present in that region.”

According to a study published by the New England Journal of Medicine in 2013, cited by the BBC, deaths on flights are uncommon. Most airlines adhere to the International Air Transport Association’s guidance on how to handle a passenger’s death during a flight.

The guidelines stipulate that when a passenger is presumed dead, their eyes should be closed and their body placed in a body bag, if one is available.

If a body bag isn’t available, then the body should be covered with a blanket up to the neck. If possible, they should also be moved to a seat or area away from other passengers.

Credits: British Airways

The post BA passengers ‘spent 13 hours on plane with dead body’ as ‘foul smell’ emerged first appeared on AircrewNews.com.