The London-bound Boeing 787 struck a medical college hostel when the plane came down shortly after takeoff in a residential area of the northwestern city of Ahmedabad
The sole survivor of the Air India plane that crashed moments after takeoff has revealed how he survived the fiery wreck. The lone survivor was a passenger, Vishwashkumar Ramesh, a British national of Indian origin.
Ramesh was thrown from the aircraft and walked to an ambulance, according to Dr. Dhaval Gameti, who treated Ramesh. The doctor said that Ramesh was disoriented, with multiple injuries, but that he seemed to be out of danger. Another medic said Ramesh told him that immediately after the plane took off, it began descending and suddenly split in two, throwing him out before a loud explosion. The airline said there were no other survivors among the 242 passengers and crew on board.
He is being treated at the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad, just a short distance from where the plane crashed. Speaking to local news company DD India, he admitted that he “can’t explain,” what happened.
Ramesh, who was sitting in 11A, forced his way out of the plane after the crash, past a broken door. He said: “The emergency door was broken, my seat is broken.”
Asked how he escaped, he replied: “I am not jumping. I just walked out innit.” He described his survival simply: “It’s a miracle.”
His doctor added: “He is having minor injuries only. He has some abrasions over his left forearm and swelling over left eyelid and over the eyes.
“Chest and abdomen is clear, no lung fractures present. The patient is vitally stable.” He will be able to return to his family in the next 48 hours, his healthcare team predict.
Security camera footage showed the plane taking off and then veering slightly to the side. It then drops into a downward glide, disappears briefly from sight and hits the ground.
Moments later, a huge orange and black fireball appears, rising high into the air. At the crash site, the tail cone of the aircraft with damaged stabilizer fins still attached was lodged near the top of a building.
The plane’s jagged cavity has torn into the facade. A web of cracks spirals outward from the plane’s impact. The battered building in Ahmedabad was the dining area for medical students and they were having lunch when the plane crashed.
The airline had been plagued by tragedy and financial losses under prior state ownership. In 2010, an Air India flight arriving from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, overshot the runway in Mangalore, India, and plunged over a cliff, killing 158 of the 166 people on board. In 2020, a flight for the Air India Express subsidiary skidded off a runway in southern India during heavy rain and cracked in two — killing 18 people and injuring more than 120 others.
An Air India Boeing 747 flight crashed into the Arabian Sea in 1978, killing all 213 aboard. The carrier was under government control from 1953 through 2022.