Family and friends of those lost in the tragic Air India plane crash are beginning to hold ceremonies and funeral services for their loved ones.
Meanwhile, the one person who survived, 40-year-old Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, is speaking to the media about the harrowing ordeal, after newly released footage shows him walking away from the fiery scene.
Highlights
- The only person to survive the Air India plane crash is 40-year-old Vishwash Kumar Ramesh
- Speaking from his hospital bed, he described what happened in the moments after impact
- Investigations continue into the cause of the crash, as well as into identifying the hundreds of victims
In an interview from his bed while still in the hospital, Ramesh tells the Indian State broadcaster, Doordarshan TV, that he simply walked away from the crash site.
“I saw an opening, so I got out”: Vishwash Kumar Ramesh talks to media about what happened
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In what many are describing as a miracle, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh is the lone survivor from the crash. Recently, he told his story to Indian state media, DD TV, in a few different interviews from his hospital bedside.
Ramesh described how, after the initial impact, he wasn’t sure that he was alive. He was seated in an emergency row, and opened his eyes to see destruction all around him inside the plane.
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At that point, his instincts kicked in. "When I opened my eyes, I saw that I was alive. So I tried to open my seat belt, and I was able to get out," he said.
Ramesh told DD TV that, even though he was in an emergency row, he did not need to open the emergency door because it was already broken. He said he just pushed it out of the way and walked out of the aircraft.
“My seat was broken, the door was broken. I saw an opening, so I just got out,” he explained.
The lone crash survivor was born in India, but has lived in the U.K. since 2003
Image credits: DD India / YouTube
Image credits: DD India / YouTube
Viswash Kumar Ramesh is described in the media as a 40-year-old British national who lives in London with his wife and child. The BBC says that he was born in India but has lived in England since 2003.
His brother Ajay, who was also on the flight with him, did not survive. He and his brother were returning to the U.K. after visiting family in India, media report.
Ramesh is expected to be released from the hospital within the next few days. He has sustained slight bruises and cuts, but nothing life-threatening. Doctors expect a full recovery.
Besides TV reporters, Ramesh accepted one very special visitor, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi was in the hospital to meet with the victims’ families and stopped by to chat with Ramesh as well.
Medical officials are having trouble identifying AI171 victims due to the intense flames
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So far, officials say the number of those who lost their lives in the accident, both on the plane and the ground, is 279, but that number is expected to keep rising.
241 people, including crew and passengers, onboard the plane have perished, as well as dozens of people inside the building that the plane crashed into; a medical school hostel, filled with people eating lunch.
Identifying the victims has been difficult, search and rescue teams tell the media. That’s because the intense fires and explosions that resulted from the crash likely incinerated many of the victims’ bodies.
According to the New York Times, medical officials told families that initial findings showed that “temperatures at the crash site had reached 1,500 degrees Celsius, or 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit.”
The director of the Gandhinagar Forensic Science Laboratory, HP Sanghvi, spoke to the media over the weekend about the difficult nature of the task ahead of them.
“These high temperatures affect the DNA present in various parts of the body,” Mr. Sanghvi said. “The entire process—from collecting DNA samples of victims and their families to final matching—is being carried out 24/7,” he said.
“The plane was stuck”: Ramesh describes flight as search for black boxes continues
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In addition to the laborious task of identifying the victims, transportation officials and investigators are trying to determine why Air India flight AI171 tragically crashed about 30 seconds after taking off on June 12th.
Survivor Vishwash Kumar Ramesh has told officials that within a few seconds of taking off, it felt like, “the plane was stuck in the air", Ramesh said.
Aviation experts and former pilots have been speculating on what might have happened, with some suggesting pilot error, or even other nefarious motives.
But the real answer will only be known once the two so-called ‘black boxes’ are recovered. Those are the plane’s flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. With these two pieces of equipment, officials should be able to tell if the crash was due to mechanical failure, human error or a combination of both.
“We left the airport in frustration”: Bhoomi Chauhan missed flight AI171 by 10 minutes
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Although Vishwash Kumar Ramesh was the only person to survive, additional stories are emerging about close calls. People who, for some reason or another, did not make the flight, and are now alive to tell their stories.
One is Bhoomi Chauhan, who according to the BBC, was angry and frustrated that she lost the flight. She had been stuck in traffic, so she arrived at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad 10 minutes after boarding.
When she was told at the gate that she couldn’t board the plane, she was upset.
Image credits: Rishii_Bose / X
Image credits: Rishii_Bose / X
"I requested airline staff to allow me inside as I am only 10 minutes [late]. I told them that I am the last passenger and so please allow me to board the plane, but they did not allow me,” Chauhan told the BBC.
She said: "We got very angry with our driver and left the airport in frustration," she recalls. "I was very disappointed.”
Now, of course, the 28-year-old is counting her blessings.
Watch the survivor's interview below:
Netizens discuss Ramesh’s luck and the survivor's guilt he will likely be living with
