Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a 40-year-old British national from Leicester, who was the only survivor of the devastating Air India Flight AI171 crash in Ahmedabad, India, has buried his younger brother, who perished with 278 others in the tragedy last Thursday.
Speaking through visible grief and injuries, Ramesh described his survival as a “miracle,” but said he is overwhelmed with guilt for not being able to save his younger brother, Ajay, who was also on board.
The crash occurred shortly after takeoff, when the Boeing 787 Dreamliner plunged into a densely populated area of Ahmedabad, striking a medical college hostel.
Out of the 242 people onboard, only Vishwash survived. Among the dead were 52 British nationals, including his brother.
Vishwash had booked two seats for himself and Ajay, hoping they would sit together in Row 11. However, by the time he finalised the booking, the only available seats were apart—he took 11A, while Ajay was seated in 11J.
He now believes this twist of fate may have cost Ajay his life. “If we had been sitting together, we both might have survived,” he said.
During the chaos following the crash, Vishwash, seated near an emergency exit, managed to crawl through a hole in the twisted fuselage and escape the burning aircraft.
He suffered facial cuts and a limp, but his first thought was to go back and rescue his brother.
Video footage obtained by MailOnline shows Vishwash telling an emergency responder, “My family member is in there, my brother. He’s burning to death. I have to save him.”
The responder, Satinder Singh Sandhu, initially thought Ramesh was a bystander. “He was disoriented, limping, bleeding, and in shock. I didn’t realise he had been on the plane,” Singh recalled.
Vishwash’s emotional trauma was on full display during his brother’s funeral in Gujarat, where he was seen with plasters on his face, visibly limping, and later had to be carried away, overcome with anguish after helping carry Ajay’s casket.
The crash, which has become one of the deadliest in Air India’s history involving British citizens, remains under investigation.
The cause has not yet been determined. Both black boxes have been recovered, though one is severely fire-damaged and may be sent to the U.S. for data extraction.
In the meantime, Air India has cancelled multiple flights as a precaution, including a flight scheduled on the same Ahmedabad-London route as the ill-fated AI171.
These flights were to be operated by Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners, the same model involved in the crash.
On Tuesday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Vishwash in the hospital and later attended Ajay’s funeral, calling the survival “extraordinary” and promising full support for the ongoing investigation.
