A British national has been identified as the sole survivor of an Air India crash that killed at least 290 people.
Air India Flight 171 was headed for Gatwick Airport from Ahmedabad, in north-west India, on Thursday. It was carrying over 240 passengers.
It struggled to climb above the runway before it plummeted into a doctor’s hostel, killing all but one person on board, and at least 50 more on the ground. One man walked away from the crash.
Who is the only survivor of the Air India Crash?
British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh was the only survivor.
When the plane began descending, it split in half, throwing him from his seat before he heard a loud explosion, a medic who spoke to Ramesh told the Associated Press.
He was returning home to the UK after visiting family in India.
How did Vishwash Kumar Ramesh survive?
It is unclear how Ramesh survived.
He reportedly suffered “impact injuries” to his chest, eyes and feet.
A doctor told CNN that Ramesh’s condition was “not very critical” and that he could be released in the next couple of days.
“He has some blood in the images, but he’s not very badly injured,” said Dr. Rajnish Patel, professor and head of surgery at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital.
“He is very comfortable and under strict observation, no issues.”
According to Reuters, local police said the man had been in seat 11A.
Indian news outlets have shared a photo of Ramesh’s boarding pass, which indicates that he was in seat 11A of the flight.
The seat was in the emergency exit row, just in front of the plane’s left wing.
CNN safety analyst and former US Federal Aviation Administration safety inspector David Soucie expressed surprise that someone seated at that part of the plane would survive such a crash.
That seat is “right where the spar of the wing would go under and it would be a solid place for the aircraft to hit the ground, but as far as survivability above it, that is incredibly surprising,” he told CNN.
A British member of parliament said Ramesh’s survival was “nothing short of a miracle.”
What is the safest seat on a plane?
According to US aviation data, passengers sitting in the back of a plane have the highest chance of surviving a crash.
The National Transportation Safety Board in the US found that passengers at the back of the plane had a 69 per cent chance of survival during a crash, while passengers at the front had a 59 per cent chance of survival.
What did Ramesh say about the crash?
The Hindustan Times quoted Ramesh after speaking to him in local hospital, reportedly saying: Thirty seconds after takeoff, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly.”
“When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran,” he told the newspaper.
“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.”
Who was he travelling with?
Ramesh was travelling with his brother, who has not yet been found.
He is believed to have died in the crash.
Ramesh said he was looking for his brother, Ajay Kumar Ramesh, in the wreckage, but he could not find him.
He was sitting in a different row.
“We visited Diu,” he said, referring to a coastal town about 300 kilometres south-west of Ahmedabad.
“He was travelling with me and I can’t find him anymore. Please help me find him.”
