Vishwaskumar Ramesh, the only survivor of the United Kingdom bound Air India plane that crashed after take-off from Ahmedabad, India and lef...
Vishwaskumar Ramesh, the only survivor of the United Kingdom bound Air India plane that crashed after take-off from Ahmedabad, India and left all 241 other passengers and crew dead, has expressed shock at his survival, saying “I thought I would die”.
Recovering from the hospital a day after the tragedy that claimed five other lives on the ground, Ramesh said in an exclusive interview with NDTV yesterday: “Everything happened in front of my eyes. I thought I would die.
“The side where I was seated fell into the ground floor of the building. There was some space. When the door broke, I saw that space and I just jumped out.
“The door must’ve broken on impact.
“There was a wall on the opposite side, but near me, it was open. I ran.
“I don’t know how. I don’t know how I came out of it alive.
“For a while, I thought I was about to die. But when I opened my eyes, I saw I was alive, and I opened my seat belt and got out of there. The airhostess … died before my eyes.”
The Air India airliner carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members was en route to the United Kingdom and crashed into a building shortly after takeoff on Thursday, leaving 246 dead, officials said.
The victims include 241 passengers and crew members as well as five medical students who were inside the medical college and hospital the aircraft crashed into, according to hospital officials.
Many others inside the building were injured — some seriously — and are receiving treatment, hospital officials said.
Ramesh’s brother, Nayankumar Ramesh, said it is a “miracle” his brother survived.
He said: “Our plane’s crashed. I don’t know where my brother is. I don’t see any other passengers. I don’t know how I’m alive, how I exited the plane,” Nayankumar Ramesh told ABC News about his brother’s escape from the plane.
“Just hearing about the crash, I’m scared to fly now, to even stay on a plane now.”
The plane, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, crashed in the Meghaninagar area near Ahmedabad airport, in India’s Gujarat state, the city’s Police Commissioner G.S. Malik said Thursday.
Boeing’s Dreamliner planes had not previously been involved in an incident where passenger fatalities were reported. This plane had more than 41,000 hours of flying time, which is considered average for this aircraft, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics firm.
“Our deepest condolences go out to the loved ones of the passengers and crew on board Air India Flight 171, as well as everyone affected in Ahmedabad.
“I have spoken with Air India Chairman N. Chandrasekaran to offer our full support, and a Boeing team stands ready to support the investigation led by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau,” Boeing President and CEO Kelly Ortberg said in a statement.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a statement that he’d been in touch with local officials after the crash.
“The tragedy in Ahmedabad has stunned and saddened us,” he said in a statement on social media. “It is heartbreaking beyond words. In this sad hour, my thoughts are with everyone affected by it.”
Survivor shares shocking account
Ramesh, who lives in London with his wife and child, is being treated at a hospital in the northwestern city of Ahmedabad, where he told doctors that immediately after the plane took off, it began descending and suddenly split in two.
Dr. Dhaval Gameti, who examined him, told the Associated Press that he was disoriented with “multiple injuries all over his body”, but that he “seems to be out of danger.”
Speaking to Indian broadcaster Doordarshan, Ramesh recounted his horrific ordeal, and spoke of how he witnessed two air hostesses die “in front of my eyes”.
He said: “I don’t know how I came out of it alive,” he said from his hospital bed.
“For a while, I thought I was about to die. But when I opened my eyes, I saw I was alive. And I opened my seatbelt and got out of there.”
His seat was placed right next to the emergency door, which he says came off when the plane hit the ground.
“The side where I was seated fell into the ground floor of the building,” Ramesh recalled.
“There was some space. When the door broke, I saw that space and I just jumped out.
‘The door must’ve broken on impact.
“There was a wall on the opposite side, but near me, it was open. I ran. I don’t know how.”
When the plane hit the ground yesterday, seat 11A, where Ramesh was sat, collapsed into the ground floor of the building, instead of the upper levels where the jet’s main body was badly destroyed.
Ramesh also described how just moments after take-off, it “felt like the plane had got stuck”.
He recalled how the pilots tried to raise the jet, but it “went full speed and crashed into the building”.
Ramesh explained how the plane quickly caught fire following the crash, saying that he burnt his arm.
Astonishing footage taken near the crash site yesterday showed Ramesh with visible injuries hobbling away from the jet before he was rushed to hospital for treatment.
Ramesh, whose brother was also on the flight and is presumed dead, described yesterday how he heard “a loud noise” before the plane crashed.
“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. Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital.”
India’s prime minister met the plane crash survivor yesterday, as well as those who were injured on the ground.
India’s leader was also pictured visiting the site of the crash.
“We are all devastated by the air tragedy in Ahmedabad. The loss of so many lives in such a sudden and heartbreaking manner is beyond words,” Modi said on social media after his visit.
“We understand their pain and also know that the void left behind will be felt for years to come.”
The Indian government has launched an investigation into the fatal crash of the London-bound plane.
Officials said most of the bodies were charred beyond recognition.
There was no news yesterday on the cause of the crash or on efforts to retrieve the black boxes – the flight data and cockpit voice recorders – as authorities continued to search the crash site.
The plane hit a building housing medical students and burst into flames, killing several college students on the ground.
Shocking images and videos showed how black smoke billowed from the site where the plane crashed near the airport in Ahmedabad, a city of more than five million and the capital of Gujarat.
India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has initiated a probe into the disaster in line with global protocols set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, said Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu in a statement on social media.
A team from the United States is expected to arrive in India to help. The National Transportation Safety Board, Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing and General Electric are all sending experts.
Medics are conducting DNA tests to identify those killed, the national president of the Federation of All India Medical Association, Akshay Dongardiv, said.
Meanwhile, grieving families gathered outside the civil hospital in Ahmedabad yesterday.
No comments