Dad whose entire family died in Air India crash told he can’t stay in UK

The Home Office has been branded cruel after a dad whose family was killed in last year’s Air India crash was told he must leave the UK.

Mohammad Shethwala’s wife Sadikabanu and the couple’s two-year-old daughter Fatima were among 260 people who died in the June 2025 disaster.

He was dependent on Sadikabanu for his British visa, after she first arrived in the country as a student.

Mohammad, who has lived in the UK for four years, applied to extend his visa on humanitarian grounds because he has ‘nothing left’ other than his support network of friends in London.

But the Home Office rejected that request last week and put him on immigration bail.

Campaigners said the government should be ashamed for ‘depriving a grieving father of his home’.

Mohammad, who struggles to speak about what has happened, told Metro: ‘I am not accepting this decision from the government. I’m not feeling well right now because of this. I’m not accepting this decision.’

He arrived in the UK from India in March 2022 as a dependent on his wife Sadikabanu’s student visa, while she studied at the Ulster University campus in London.

The couple had a British-born daughter, Fatima, and continued their lives in the capital when Sadikabanu switched to a two-year Graduate visa in January 2024.

Sadikabanu had just started a new job in Rugby and was about to apply for a Skilled Worker visa to continue life in the UK from 2026 when she died in the Air India crash alongside her daughter.

The Ahmedabad to London flight went down seconds after take off on June 12 last year, killing 169 Indian nationals, 53 British, one Canadian and seven Portuguese.

In an instant, Mohammad, who was working as a delivery driver, lost his closest family and his path to staying in the UK.

Speaking on behalf of Mohammad, his friend Musab Taherwala told Metro: ‘He lost everything. Everything has been ruined. 

‘He’s not able to talk about it properly. His mind is not working properly.

‘His wife was supposed to be the main applicant for a skilled worker visa. If his wife had survived, he would still be allowed in the UK. 

‘If his daughter had survived, he would have been granted indefinite leave to remain when she turned seven, but she died as well.’

Mohammad applied for Further Leave to Remain (FLR) to extend his visa in December last year on ‘compassionate’ and ‘humanitarian’ grounds.

His lawyers argued that the bereaved dad’s mental health had deteriorated and he was reliant on a close support network of friends in the UK.

Mohammad had briefly returned to India after the crash but found it difficult to cope because of the intense media coverage.

Despite their pleas, the Home Office rejected Mohammad’s application and legal arguments on April 9.

Officials said his situation did not fall under exceptional circumstances.

They argued he could still receive adequate mental health care from health services and other relatives in India.

At the same time as his refusal, the Home Office also put him on immigration bail, which stops him from working and bars him from potentially applying for a Skilled Worker visa to stay in the UK.

Musab said: ‘The Home Office are not being fair. We want a review of this decision. He is a deserving person for this extension.

‘He doesn’t have anything. He applied for an extension because he has nothing left.’

Metro has been told that Mohammad’s lawyers plan to challenge the Home Office’s decision in the courts, which will allow him to stay in the UK during that process.

The government’s decision has been met with fury from leading immigration activists and groups.

Fizza Qureshi, CEO of the Migrants’ Rights Network, said: ‘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. 

‘The Home Office refuses to show compassion even during grief. They must reconsider their decision. After such a horrific experience, no one should have their life further uprooted and  stripped of the valuable wellbeing support they need.’

Campaigner Professor Patrick Vernon OBE said Mohammad was being subject to the ‘same cruelty’ as victims of the Windrush scandal.

He told Metro: ‘This case should shame the Home Office. After losing his wife and young child in a tragic disaster, Mohammad has been met not with support, but with enforcement and hostility.

‘This is not just bureaucratic failure, it is a moral failure. Britain must stop criminalising grief and start showing humanity.’

Gracie Mae Bradley, writer and civil liberties expert, said: ‘The Home Office surely has better things to do than deprive a grieving father of his home and support network less than a year after a life-changing tragedy.

‘It should reconsider Mohammad’s case and more generally treat people subject to its decisions with basic humanity.’

The Boeing 787-8 crash is one of the deadliest air disasters of the 21st century.

It killed 260 people, including 241 passengers and crew members, as well as 19 people on the ground after hitting a medical college hostel building and bursting into flames.

Ayush S Rajpal, Case Manager Chionuma Law, who represents more than 110 families who lost their lives in the Air India crash, said: ‘We believe this is a genuine humanitarian case and request fair and kind consideration.

‘Our client has lived in the UK for four years and built his life there with his wife. He is working and settled, and it would be very difficult for him to find similar work in India.

‘After losing his wife, he is facing financial and emotional difficulties and is under psychiatric care. In these circumstances, we kindly request that he be allowed to remain in the UK on compassionate grounds.’

A spokesperson for the Home Office, which does not routinely comment on individual cases, said: ‘All visa applications are assessed on individual merit in line with immigration rules.’

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