Pius Nsabe
There may be no other way to characterize the fate of Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a 40-year-old British national who appears to be the sole survivor of Air India flight 171, which crashed on June 12 with 242 passengers and crew aboard.
The London-bound commercial passenger plane went down shortly after a midday take-off in Ahmedabad, in western India.
G.S. Malik, Ahmedabad’s police chief, told Indian news media that Ramesh may have survived what no one else did, although local officials have not yet definitively concluded that everyone aboard the jet was killed.
Malik said Ramesh, who showed Indian media his boarding pass that confirmed his name, flight and seat number, was being treated for his wounds. He sustained visible “impact injuries” to his chest, eyes and feet.
And Ramesh briefly spoke to reporters about his ordeal from his hospital bed.
“It all happened so quickly,” he told the Hindustan Times. “When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me,” he said.
“Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital.”
The Boeing 787-8 aircraft crashed less than a minute after taking off. It was carrying 242 passengers and crew members. Air India said 169 were Indian nationals, 53 were British, seven were Portuguese and one was Canadian. Authorities have not released information about what may have caused the crash.
Malik added that Ramesh’s brother Ajay was seated in a different row on the plane.
They were returning to Britain after visiting family in India.
“He was traveling with me, and I can’t find him anymore. Please help me find him,” Ramesh said.
Malik, travelling on Seat 11A, has been confirmed the sole survivor so far.
