Miracle passenger in seat 11A survives Air India plane crash that killed over 200 people: ‘There were bodies all around me’
It’s the miracle in Seat 11A.
A lone survivor walked away from the Air India crash that killed everyone else aboard when the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner went down just 30 seconds after take off.
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who was in exit-row seat 11A, says he has “no idea” how he is still alive following the crash at Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on Thursday morning.
The British-Indian citizen was found limping in the street amid the wreckage after the passenger plane smashed into a hostel for doctors and their families just moments after taking off, authorities said.
There were 242 people on board the plane. Others on the ground were also killed.
“When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me,” the 40-year-old told the Hindustan Times from a hospital bed.
“Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital.”
Ramesh recalled the horrifying moment the plane began rapidly descending and hitting a doctors’ hostel in a residential part of the city of 5 million in northwest India.
“Thirty seconds after takeoff, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly.”
His brother Nayan Kumar Ramesh, 27, said the family was left completely pale when they learned Ramesh was on the flight.
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“We were just shocked as soon as we heard it. I last spoke to him yesterday morning,” he told The Guardian. “We’re devastated, just devastated.
“He said, ‘I have no idea how I exited the plane,’” the brother added after speaking with Ramesh.
Ajay Valgi, another relative, said his family had gotten a call from Ramesh earlier in the day letting them know he’s “fine” after surviving the deadly crash, the BBC reported.
Valgi and the rest of the family have gathered in Leicester, England, as they await more information, including the fate of Ramesh’s brother, who was also on board the plane.
Ramesh, who is married and has a child, was born in India, but has lived in the UK for several years.
The details of his miraculous survival remain unclear, including whether his seating spot in the front exit row played a role in securing his safety.
While it has often been speculated that sitting in the back of the plane increases survivability in the event of a crash, experts have long repeatedly said this amounts to nothing but an old wives’ tale, with no data showing correlation between seating and survivability.
Ahmedabad’s police chief had initially said that it appeared everyone onboard had died, along with many others where the jet crashed.
He later told the BBC that so far 204 bodies have been recovered from the crash site.
