Lone passenger survives the deadly Air India crash
The lone passenger to survive the Air India crash that killed 241 people on board Thursday found himself near debris after being thrown out of the plane and walked to a nearby ambulance for aid, a medic said.
A doctor at Ahmedabad's Civil Hospital identified the man as Vishwashkumar Ramesh, and Indian Home Minister Amit Shah said he met the survivor. The airline said he was a British national of Indian origin.
'He was disoriented with multiple injuries all over his body,' Dr. Dhaval Gameti, who treated Ramesh, told The Associated Press. 'But he seems to be out of danger.'
Another medic said Ramesh told him that immediately after the plane took off, it began descending and suddenly split in two, throwing him out before a loud explosion.
Video broadcast by Indian news channels appeared to show a bloodied Ramesh walking away from the crash site and people running behind him.
Ramesh, who had his boarding pass with him in the hospital, told local newspaper Hindustan Times that he saw bodies and parts of the plane strewn around the crash site.
'When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran,' he told the newspaper.
Ramesh was traveling to London with his brother and called relatives in Leicester after the crash, his cousin, Ajay Valgi, told the BBC.
'He only said that he's fine, nothing else,' Valgi said, adding that the family is 'happy that he's OK, but we're still upset about the other brother.'
Nayan Kumar Ramesh told Sky News that his brother called his father moments after the crash to say he had survived.
'He video called my dad as he crashed and said, 'Oh the plane's crashed. I don't know where my brother is. I don't see any other passengers. I don't know how I'm alive, how I exited the plane',' he told Sky.
___
Saaliq and Hussain reported from Srinagar, India. Kirka reported from London
Sheikh Saaliq, Aijaz Hussain And Danica Kirka, The Associated Press
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
19 minutes ago
- Fox News
Marine experts find likely remains of 18th-century treasure ship that was lost for centuries
Underwater archaeologists may have discovered a long-lost 18th-century treasure ship that vanished over two centuries ago. Marine expert Edmond O'Byrne told Pen News that his team found what is believed to be the Recovery, a British ship that was lost off the coast of Wexford, Ireland, in 1787. (See the video at the top of this article.) The ship carried various treasures, and its cargo included a large quantity of marble and bronze. James Caulfeild, 1st Earl of Charlemont, collected the valuable materials during a tour of Europe. The ship also carried rare art and natural curiosities owned by John La Touche, one of the wealthiest Irish bankers of his time. But the ship met its end when it sank 85 miles south of Dublin, its intended destination. The vessel had recently stopped in London after beginning its journey in Italy. Six people died in the wreck, including the ship's captain and two of his sons. The ship was largely forgotten about before researchers caught wind of its likely remains. During a recent interview with Pen News, O'Byrne said that, one day, his side-scan sonar "picked up an unusual object on the seabed." "The ship was at the mercy of the sea." He told the agency, "At first I thought it was a torpedo, because the image would be slightly distorted on the side-scan sonar." But the shipwreck revealed its age when his crew spotted a copper sheath on the vessel. In the 18th century, copper was used by the Royal Navy to protect wooden ships from barnacles and shipworms. "When we went [underwater], it turned out to be a 20-foot-long rudder covered in copper sheet," O'Byrne recalled. "Now that really identified her." He added, "In 1773, when she was built in Chester, the Recovery was one of about 200 ships out of the British merchant fleet of about 10,000 that had their hulls covered in copper sheathing." "Any wrecks that we have a record of weren't copper sheathed." Using a drone, researchers also spotted a piece of timber coming out of a sandbank, which O'Byrne said was "definitely from a ship." "It could have been any bit of timber but when I told the pilot to drive closer, I could see that there was a timber nail hole in that plank," he said. "I told one of the boys to go down and take that up, and when he did, there was a two-foot by one-foot copper sheath nailed to the timber." The team also uncovered an anchor, timber fittings and artifacts including a teapot and inkwells. Some of the findings offer a glimpse into how the ship went down: For example, the rudder was found around 800 feet away from the shipwreck. "We reckon when she came around Carnsore Point, she came into shallower water, and pulled the rudder and part of the stern off," O'Byrne described. "And then the ship was at the mercy of the sea." The rudder was also covered in copper. It may be the only 18th-century copper-covered rudder that's ever been found. "We've searched and, so far, nobody can tell us that there is a copper-covered rudder in existence from that time anywhere," O'Byrne added. "It could be the only one of its time." The true value of the cargo is unknown, though La Touche's possessions have fetched vast sums of money in the past. One sculpture that he commissioned sold for £520,000 in 1997, which equals roughly $1 million U.S. dollars today. O'Byrne also believes that, with the shipwreck sitting 65 feet below the service, the cargo may still be in good condition. "If they had to journey some distance on land to get to the port and then be loaded and then unloaded, they would have to be packed very, very well," he observed. "So there is a chance that something would survive." For now, the ship is going to remain undisturbed while O'Byrne's team monitors it to see if any shifting sands reveal its treasures. Recovered shipwrecks are of great interest to marine historians. Earlier this year, a centuries-old ship was found beneath a former fish market in Spain. Last month, the Wisconsin Historical Society announced the discovery of a 19th-century tugboat in Lake Michigan.
Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Sole survivor of Air India plane crash was in seat 11A
The man who walked away from the Air India plane crash as the disaster's only survivor was sitting near an emergency exit on the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner as it took off from Ahmedabad, India, on its way to London on Thursday. His seat was 11A. The seat is on the left side of the aircraft when facing the cockpit. The man, 40-year-old British national Viswash Kumar Ramesh, said the plane crash-landed on the ground floor of a building where medical students lived. Ramesh said he opened his eyes, realizing he was alive, and unfastened his seat belt before forcing himself out of the aircraft — escaping with a burnt hand. "I could see there was space outside the aircraft, so when my door broke I tried to escape through a little space and I did," he said from his hospital bed. An infographic shows where Ramesh was seated. The image shows seat 11A was near the front of the plane, with some open space right in front of it. Ron Bartsch, chairman at the Sydney-based AvLaw Aviation Consulting, told the Reuters news agency that seat 11A "was obviously the safest seat" in this particular instance because Ramesh was sitting adjacent to the emergency exit. "But it's not always 11A, it's just 11A on this configuration of the Boeing 787," Bartsch said. Seat configurations vary depending on the aircraft, and many factors are at play when it comes to crash survival. "Each accident is different, and it is impossible to predict survivability based on seat location," said Mitchell Fox, a director at the U.S.-based nonprofit Flight Safety Foundation, according to Reuters. Ramesh was in shock as he walked away from the crash. He was later taken to a hospital in an ambulance. Dr. Dhaval Gameti at Ahmedabad's Civil Hospital told The Associated Press that Ramesh "was disoriented with multiple injuries all over his body" but that he seemed to be "out of danger." Video shows Air India plane crashing in Ahmedabad Air India plane crashes shortly after takeoff, carrying more than 240 people Remembering the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson
Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Scenes from the Air India plane crash
Search and recovery teams work through the destruction caused by the crash of Air India flight AI171 in Ahmedabad, India, on Thursday. The plane, which was bound for London, crashed into a medical college shortly after takeoff with 242 passengers and crew aboard. At least 290 people died, including those on the ground, with one survivor from aboard the plane.
