Unanswered Air India survivor questions from seat riddle to crazy escape

Daily Record

a day ago

Londoner Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who was on-board the flight on Thursday, managed to walk away with his life from the crash site.
Several questions remain over how one man managed to survive the Air India plane crash.
As investigators worked through the wreckage in Gujarat on Thursday, police warned there would be no survivors. Moments later a British passenger walked away from the scene of horror - showing barely any signs of the terror he had endured.
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Londoner Vishwash Kumar Ramesh boarded a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft bound for London's Gatwick Airport, having spent a few days in India visiting family. But shortly after take-off, it became clear something had gone terribly wrong, with the plane sending a desperate 'Mayday' signal to those on the ground.
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Out of the 242 souls who boarded the aircraft that day, only Vishwash survived. The Mirror reports while many questions remain in the aftermath of the catastrophe, there is one that continues to perplex above all others. How did Vishwash survive?
Family's confusion
Nayan Kumar Ramesh, the brother of the surviving passenger, told BBC News Vishwash "has no idea how he survived", or how he managed to exit the plane. He shared: "We were all in shock as soon as we heard what happened, just utter shock. Speechless. He himself has no idea how he survived, how he got out the plane."
Telling his story to the Hindustani Times, Vishwash shared the lights on the plane "started flickering". He said: "When the flight took off, within five to 10 seconds it felt like it was stuck in the air. Suddenly, the lights started flickering – green and white – then the plane rammed into some establishment that was there."
Shedding some light on how he managed to get out, Vishwash told the publication the section of the plane he was sitting in landed on the ground, instead of hitting the roof of a building. According to Vishwash: "When I saw the exit, I thought I could come out. I tried, and I did. Maybe the people who were on the other side of the plane weren't able to."
Heartbreakingly, Vishwash saw the tragedy unfolding around him before getting to safety. He continued: "I don't know how I survived. I saw people dying in front of my eyes – the air hostesses, and two people I saw near me … I walked out of the rubble."
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"Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly."
Recalling how "there were bodies all around" him, Vishwash continued: "I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me. Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital."
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Relatively minor injuries
Extraordinary footage shows Vishwash walking away from the site of the crash site. At the time, he appeared unscathed. He reportedly suffered chest, eyes and feet injuries on impact, but appeared surprisingly alert as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited him in his hospital bed.
He is expected to be discharged within the next couple of days. A medic clarified: 'He has some blood in the images, but he's not very badly injured. He is very comfortable and under strict observation, no issues."
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The Mirror has today heard from body language expert Judi James, who offered her thoughts on the interaction between Vishwash and Mr Modi.
Judi said: "The body language of this visit perhaps illustrates the incredible narrative of this man's survival. The initial intention seems to be for Modi to stand near the end of the bed and visit from a polite distance but the survivor appears keen to talk, suggesting that the way Modi moves closer to the head of the bed, moving the drip further down to get closer, is a response aimed at listening and maybe responding intently."
She added: "As the man in the bed speaks, even using hand gesticulations to illustrate his story. Modi leans over the bed, placing his hands out in a protective-looking splay to get closer and to listen more intently with a concerned frown. There is a comforting and reassuring pat on the arm at one point, but this looks like one man going into intense listening mode as the other, amazingly, looks keen and well enough to relate his own unique story."
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Desperate search for brother
Vishwash had been travelling with his 45-year-old brother Ajay Kumar Ramesh when the plane went down. It's understood Ajay had been seated in a different row. Shortly after the crash, Vishwash pleaded, "We visited Diu. He was travelling with me and I can't find him anymore. Please help me find him."
In his BBC interview, Vishwash's other brother, Nayan, said: "When he called us he was just more worried about my other brother, like 'Find Ajay, find Ajay.' That's all he cares about at the moment."
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Sadly, Air India has since stated 241 of the 242 people onboard the plane died in the crash, with Vishwash being the sole survivor. Indian officials have also confirmed an additional eight people who weren't aboard the plane have died on the ground.
Puzzling seat
There has been plenty of fascination with the incredibly lucky seat 11A, and whether this particular positioning somehow protected Vishwash from the brunt of the impact. But seat 11A, located in the emergency exit row, just in front of the left wing, wasn't an especially safe seat at all, with experts expressing utter bewilderment.
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CNN safety analyst and former US Federal Aviation Administration safety inspector David Soucie advised Vishwash's survival is "incredibly surprising".
He told CNN how the seat was positioned, "right where the spar of the wing would go under, and it would be a solid place for the aircraft to hit the ground, but as far as survivability above it, that is incredibly surprising."
Data from the National Transportation Safety Board in the US, which came from analysis of 20 plane crashes, found passengers sitting at the back of the plane had the best chance of survival - a 69% chance of staying alive compared to 59% for those at the front.
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Another study, by Time, analysed crash data and also found the back of the plane seemed to be the safest place to sit. It also found passengers sitting in the middle seat tended to have a higher chance of survival, Forbes reported.
Seat maps of the aircraft show Ramesh's seat, 11A, was positioned close to the front of the plane. He was also next to a window - all of which makes his survival statistically unlikely.
However, he was placed near an emergency exit, according to the plane diagram, which could have played a key role in his survival. Cary Grant, an assistant professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's College of Aviation, told Travel + Leisure that "if there was a seat that was safer, being close to an emergency exit increases the chance of getting out quicker".