The lone survivor of 242 people aboard Air India plane that crashed in Ahmedabad on Friday has explained how he miraculously walked out alive from the fireball explosion.
The New Daily Prime reported that the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane, which was fully fueled as it took off for a long-haul flight to London, exploded into a burst of orange flame on Thursday afternoon just after takeoff.
“Everything happened in front of me, and even I couldn’t believe how I managed to come out alive from that,” British citizen Vishwash Kumar Ramesh said from his hospital bed on Friday, speaking in Hindi to national broadcaster, DD News.
The Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane, which was full of fuel as it took off for a long-haul flight to London, exploded into a burst of orange flame on Thursday afternoon just after taking off.
Ramesh — who was in seat 11A according to media reports — was the only one aboard the plane not to be killed, with at least 24 others killed on the ground.
Air India said all other passengers and crew were killed – including 169 Indian nationals and 52 British nationals. More than 200 bodies have been recovered so far, though it is unclear how many were passengers and how many were from the ground.
Speaking from his hospital bed, Mr Ramesh said the lights inside the aircraft “started flickering” moments after take off.
Within five to 10 seconds, it felt like the plane was “stuck in the air”, he said.
“The lights started flickering green and white…suddenly slammed into a building and exploded.”
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed into a building used as accommodation for doctors at the Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College and Civil Hospital.
But Mr Ramesh, a businessman from Leicester who has a wife and four-year-old son, said the section he was sitting in landed near the ground and did not make contact with the building.
“When the door broke and I saw there was some space, I tried to get out of there and I did.
“No one could have got out from the opposite side, which was towards the wall, because it crashed there.”
The cause of the crash is not yet known. Officials say one black box has been recovered from the crash site, according to news agencies, which will be able to provide further information for investigators.
Video shared on social media showed Mr Ramesh walking towards an ambulance with smoke billowing in the background.
He told the Indian broadcaster he could not believe that he came out of the wreckage alive.
“I saw people dying in front of my eyes – the air hostesses, and two people I saw near me,” he said.
“For a moment, I felt like I was going to die too, but when I opened my eyes and looked around, I realised I was alive.
“I still can’t believe how I survived. I walked out of the rubble.”
