Astonishing new footage has emerged showing the only survivor of the Air India Flight AI171 crash, British national Viswash Kumar Ramesh, 40, walking away from the wreckage while speaking on his phone—moments after the aircraft exploded in a massive fireball behind him.
The tragic crash, which occurred just after takeoff from Ahmedabad on Thursday, claimed the lives of 241 people onboard, including Ramesh’s brother, Ajay.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner was en route to London Gatwick when it lost thrust seconds into the flight and plummeted into a densely populated part of the city, killing dozens more on the ground. Over 270 bodies have been recovered so far.
Shocking video filmed outside the B.J. Medical College—where part of the plane crashed—shows Ramesh in a daze, walking away from the chaos while a thick column of black smoke towers behind him.
Locals screamed in panic, with one man in a turquoise turban running toward Ramesh, shouting in Gujarati, “Plane fatyo che” (the plane exploded).
Ramesh, a father returning to his family in London after spending nearly a year in India with his brother, had been seated in Seat 11A, which investigators now refer to as the “miracle seat.”
Speaking from a hospital bed at the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad, just metres from the crash site, Ramesh said he was still in shock and struggled to describe what he had witnessed.
“I’m feeling better… treatment is going good,” he said. “The emergency door was broken, my seat is broken. I didn’t jump, I just walked out, innit.”
He explained that his side of the aircraft hit the ground near a low-rise building, which allowed him to escape through a broken door. He was rescued by bystanders and rushed to the hospital.
When asked about surviving what is now one of the worst aviation disasters of the century, Ramesh simply said: “It’s a miracle.”
See the footage here.
