New Delhi: From seat 11A, near an emergency exit, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh could see a flash of fire. He also heard the sound of screeching metal as London Gatwick-bound Air India flight AI-171 crashed into a medical college hostel in Ahmedabad about 30 seconds after taking off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.
Ramesh, a British national, felt he was about to die on that fateful afternoon of June 12.
But destiny had other plans.
Ramesh emerged as the sole survivor out of the 242 people on board the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft. Much to the disbelief of people on the ground, Ramesh walked out of the wreckage. Videos of Ramesh emerging from the plane’s broken wreckage had gone viral.
His younger brother was among the victims, and though he survived the horrific crash, the world changed for him.
Describing the life-changing moment in an interview with Sky News, Ramesh said, “I thought I was going to die … when I opened my eyes and realised I was alive.”
He recalled the lights had flickered and the plane seemed to lose power, before it crashed. But he found an exit. “I managed to unbuckle myself… used my leg to push through that opening, and crawled out.”
As he made his way out, what Ramesh saw still haunts him — bodies all around him, passengers and crew trapped in wreckage and charred by flames.
According to Ramesh, the price of surviving the crash has been almost unbearable.
“God gave me life but took all my happiness … I lost my brother … my family has completely broken down,” the Guardian quoted him as saying.
The loss of his brother Ajay Kumar Ramesh, who was travelling with him, swallowed his own joy. Ramesh now spends long hours alone, sleepless, weakened not only physically but mentally.
“I just stay awake, I sleep maybe three to four hours … yes it’s a miracle I survived, but I lost everything,” Ramesh lamented.
The loss of his brother was like stepping into a new life for Ramesh. “He was everything for me. He is like my backbone… Still, I cannot believe that he is no more,” Ramesh said.
Ramesh and his brother had invested their entire savings into a fishing venture in India, and used to, often travel back and forth from the UK. Since the June 12 crash, the business has come to a halt, leaving both their families in the UK and India without a source of income. It’s not just a financial loss, but an existential crisis as well.
Air India reportedly offered Ramesh an interim payment of £21,500 — a one-off sum given to a claimant in advance of reaching the end of a personal injury claim, according to Sky News. Though he has accepted the offer, Ramesh’s adviser and spokesperson Radd Seiger said the money “doesn’t even touch the sides” vis-à-vis what the grief-stricken Ramesh needs.
