The Air India crash survivor told me he's okay - his escape is nothing short of a miracle
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh was conscious, half sitting on his bed in blue hospital scrubs when I walked into the ward.
The Briton had bruises on his hands and face, and was speaking to an attendant and some plain-clothed policemen.
I introduced myself to the man believed to be the only survivor of Thursday's Air India crash and asked how he was.
He acknowledged me with a nod and said he was okay.
By then, the police and the hospital administrators stopped me from going any further and ushered me out of the ward.
Dr Shariq told me he was the first to attend to Ramesh when the ambulance brought him to the trauma centre.
"He was alright, had few cuts on his hands and face," the medic said. "There was nothing majorly wrong at all. He limped a bit. But he was mentally shaken up."
He described Ramesh's condition as conscious and alert.
A thorough check-up was done and he was moved to the special ward.
A miracle survivor is what everyone is calling him here. And that he is. Surviving a crash of that magnitude is nothing short of a miracle.
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A short distance from his ward is the mortuary, where dozens of relatives and friends have gathered to identify their loved ones.
Wails and cries break out every time an ambulance arrives.
Authorities are using DNA from living relatives to identify bodies.
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The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
Tributes paid to highly respected radiologist killed in Air India plane crash
A highly respected radiologist who was killed in the Air India plane crash has been described as a 'wonderful man' who entertained colleagues with stories about 'his newly discovered love of fish and chips'. Dr Prateek Joshi died alongside his wife and three children on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner on Thursday shortly after the aircraft took off from Ahmedabad Airport. Colleagues paid tribute to him as 'a man with such a passion for life' – including an 'enthusiasm for walking in the Peak District'. Dr Joshi worked at the Royal Derby Hospital and Queen's Hospital Burton for four years, after moving to Derby from India in 2021. Fellow consultant radiologist, and clinical director for imaging at the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust (UHDB), Dr Rajeev Singh, who worked closely with Dr Joshi, said he 'radiated positivity'. Dr Singh said: 'Prateek was full of joy, he was a wonderful man, friend, husband and father, and an exceptional radiologist who was highly respected in his field. 'He approached everything with a smile, radiated positivity and had a great sense of humour. 'He moved to Derby, from India, in 2021, quickly becoming a beloved colleague. 'He often entertained colleagues with stories about his passions outside of work, including his newly discovered love of fish and chips and enthusiasm for walking in the Peak District.' Dr Singh added: 'He touched the lives of so many people, both through his clinical work and as a colleague and friend to many. 'It is hard to accept that a man with such a passion for life, and his beautiful young family, have been taken in this way. 'His passing has left a profound void, not only in his professional contributions but in the warmth and spirit that he gave to the world every day.' The chief executive of the trust, Stephen Posey, said Dr Joshi was a 'dedicated and talented colleague. He said: 'We are profoundly and deeply saddened at the loss of our dedicated and talented colleague, Dr Prateek Joshi and his family. 'Prateek was not only an excellent doctor for whom nothing was too much trouble, but also a warm, smiling and kind man who was a hugely liked and valued member of the team. 'We are privileged that Prateek chose to give his skills, talent and knowledge to the NHS, and he will be sorely missed by everyone who had the pleasure of working with him.'
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Colleagues pay tribute to 'warm, smiling' doctor and family who perished on doomed Air India plane
Tributes were paid today to a 'warm, smiling and kind' NHS doctor, his wife and three young children, who were wiped out in the horrific Air India plane crash. Dr Prateek Joshi, 43, had worked as a radiologist at a hospital in Derby for four years. He was flying back to the UK with his wife Komi Vyas – a fellow doctor - their daughter Miraya, eight, and twin sons, Pradyut and Nakul, five, who planned to settle down in the East Midlands city. The family posted a selfie of them innocently smiling after boarding the Boeing 787 plane before it took off from Ahmedabad yesterday. Royal Derby Hospital described Dr Joshi as 'not only an excellent doctor for whom nothing was too much trouble, but also a warm, smiling and kind man who was a hugely liked and valued member of the team'. His wife of around 10 years and children had spent time with him in Derby on a regularly basis and were on the flight to Britain planning to settle down and start a new life, friends said. One of Dr Joshi's former senior colleagues at the Royal Derby, Dr Rajeev Singh, said: 'It is hard to accept that a man with such a passion for life, and his beautiful young family, have been taken in this way. 'His passing has left a profound void, not only in his professional contributions but in the warmth and spirit that he gave to the world every day.' Dr Vivekanand Sharma, minister at Derby's Geeta Bhawan Hindu temple, where Dr Joshi worshipped regularly, said: 'He was a good man, a lovely person with a smiling face, always looking to help others in any way he could. 'I first met him more than two years ago when he first came to the temple, although I had not met his wife and family before. 'Their twin sons are aged two or three and his daughter five or six. Our thoughts are with the family of Dr Joshi, everyone who was travelling on the aeroplane and those at the hospital which it crashed onto. 'We have deep sorrow for all of them.' Another of Dr Joshi's former colleagues, Deepak Pundaleekappa Kaladagi, a professor of orthopaedics at a hospital in Bangalore, posted a picture of the family on Facebook. In a heartfelt tribute, he said: 'Rest in peace Dr Prateek Joshi and family who breathed their last in the tragic horrific plane crash in Ahmedabad which killed 242 people on board. 'Dr Prateek was my MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine) classmate and a dear friend in JNMC (Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Belgaum, India). 'He was a Radiologist, his wife also a doctor, who had recently resigned from job in India and was planning to settle in UK, but fate had other plans. May their souls rest in peace and God give strength to their family to bear this loss.' Dr Singh, Consultant Radiologist and Clinical Director for Imaging at University Hospitals Derby and Burton NHS Trust, said: 'Prateek was full of joy, he was a wonderful man, friend, husband and father, and an exceptional Radiologist who was highly respected in his field. 'He approached everything with a smile, radiated positivity and had a great sense of humour. 'He moved to Derby, from India, in 2021, quickly becoming a beloved colleague. He often entertained colleagues with stories about his passions outside of work, including his newly discovered love of fish and chips and enthusiasm for walking in the Peak District. 'He touched the lives of so many people, both through his clinical work and as a colleague and friend to many.' Before the flight departed, the family shared a selfie onboard the doomed flight, all of them smiling ahead of the next chapter in their lives. Neil Ryan lived next door to the doctor for a number of years, in a suburb close to the Royal Derby Hospital. He said: 'It's absolutely devastating, you just don't expect it to be so close to home. 'The fact that they were on their way back to Derby to set up their own life, the photo they took just before they took off, they were so happy and content, for it to end this way is just heartbreaking. 'We moved in 2019 and they moved in a few years later. A wonderful, beautiful family, absolutely brilliant. The kindest, really unassuming. When they lived here, they'd just had their twin boys who were babies at the time, absolutely tiny they were. 'We could hear them crying through the walls, but it was really quiet and cute. Just the nicest family. When they left, they came round and said goodbye, they gave us a big parcel of goodies and stuff. 'He was a doctor in the hospital just down the road. You couldn't ask for better neighbours.' Another resident, Paul Stewart, added: 'I would walk past and see Dr Joshi every now and then. We didn't know each other very well but I recognised his face in the news this morning. 'It's a tragedy that has brought so much sadness to Derby, across the UK and across the world. 'To think that those young children were on that flight with their parents is just something I can't fathom. I just hope their family are supported during this horrific time.' Stephen Posey, University Hospitals of Derby and Burton chief executive, said: 'We are profoundly and deeply saddened at the loss of our dedicated and talented colleague, Dr Prateek Joshi and his family. 'Prateek was not only an excellent doctor for whom nothing was too much trouble, but also a warm, smiling and kind man who was a hugely liked and valued member of the team. 'We are privileged that Prateek chose to give his skills, talent and knowledge to the NHS, and he will be sorely missed by everyone who had the pleasure of working with him.'
Reuters
8 hours ago
- Reuters
Air India crash: Families wait as dental identification of victims starts
AHMEDABAD, India, June 13 (Reuters) - Dozens of anxious family members sat outside an Indian hospital waiting to collect bodies of loved ones killed in Thursday's Air India plane crash, as doctors worked overnight to gather dental samples from the deceased and run identification checks. In the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade, an Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with 242 people on board bound for London took off from Ahmedabad, but descended and crashed within about 30 seconds, erupting into a massive fireball. Outside the B.J. Medical College in Ahmedabad, an elderly woman said four of her relatives including two children were onboard the flight, but declined to speak further to the media until the bodies were handed over. "Can you give us the dead bodies? If not then we will not give interviews. We are so tired now," she said in frustration. Other relatives sat patiently at the hospital where many have in recent hours given blood samples for DNA profiling at a dedicated centre for collection. At the hospital, Jaishankar Pillai, a forensic dentist, told reporters the doctors were in the autopsy room until 4:30 a.m. on Friday collecting dental samples, as "teeth can withstand the heat", and they hoped they could use them for identification. "We have recorded the dental records of 135 charred victims ... it's a very pathetic situation," said Pillai, adding he did not have data for how many bodies had been identified so far. Officials outside the autopsy room told Reuters at least seven bodies had been handed over to their relatives after identification checks. In the case of dental records, a person is not typically identified based on a relative's teeth, but through reference to the victim's prior dental charts, radiographs, mouth guards or other records. Pillai added that even a selfie photograph of the victim could help doctors match the gap between two teeth to run checks. Scenes of distress played out beside the autopsy room. Daksha Patni was mourning the loss of her relative, 14-year-old Akash Patni, and wailing as she waited for his body. The cause of the crash, the first for a Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab Dreamliner wide-body airliner, has not yet been determined and India's aviation minister said a formal investigation had begun. A family member of another victim, 81-year-old Abdur Razzaq Chitthi Wala, told IANS news agency he was not being allowed to verify the body. "I received a video showing his body, it's burnt, but the face is clearly visible. All I'm asking is to let me verify the body," said the relative, who did not share his name during the interview. "They are saying give your blood sample, and you will get a call."
