Famous actress forced to delete post after accusing Air India survivor of lying

A famous Indian actress has been forced to climb down and delete a post on X in which she suggested the sole survivor of the Air India disaster had lied and wasn't really on the fateful flight. Suchitra Krishnamoorthi has apologised after claiming Briton Vishwash Kumar Ramesh never occupied seat 11A.

In a now-deleted post on X, she said: "So this #vishwaskumarramesh lied about bng [sic] a passenger on the plane & the only survivor? This is seriously weird. Didn't his family in the UK corroborate his story?"

Her tirade continued: "What about his brother's funeral that he was seen giving kandha to? Deserve not only some serious punishment but some mental asylum time if this is true uff."

However, after a backlash over her comments, Ms Krishnamoorthi posted a public apology. "Took out my last tweet on the air india crash survivor," she wrote on X. "Seems to be false news circulated for God knows what reason. My apologies."

Mr Ramesh, from Leicester, was the only survivor on board the Air India flight which crashed into a medical college hostel in Ahmedabad, western India, less than a minute after taking off on June 12.

Meanwhile, Indian investigators have identified 247 victims of the horrific 12 June Ahmedabad plane crash using DNA testing and have returned 232 bodies to their families thus far. Families of eight other passengers have been asked to provide DNA samples from other relatives after initial samples failed to match.

Ahmedabad Civil Hospital Medical superintendent, Dr Rakesh Joshi, said: "Till Saturday evening, 247 DNA samples have matched. Relatives of these deceased were contacted. So far, the mortal remains of 232 victims have been handed over to families. The process is continuing."

As many as 187 of the identified victims were Indian, while 52 were British, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian.