I escaped devastating plane crash that left 101 dead…while in SAME 11A seat as Brit sole survivor of Air India disaster
A LUCKY man who survived a fatal plane crash has revealed he was sat in the same seat as the Brit sole survivor in the Air India disaster.
Ruangsak Loychusak was onboard the Thai Airways flight TG261 from Bangkok to India when it stalled and plunged into a swamp - killing 101 people on board.
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Ruangsak Loychusak was on the doomed Thai Airways flight TG261 flight that crashed and killed 101 people
Credit: Asia Pacific Press via ViralPress
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Loychusak has now revealed he was sat on seat 11A
Credit: Asia Pacific Press via ViralPress
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A picture of Loychusak being rescued
Credit: Asia Pacific Press via ViralPress
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Vishwash Kumar Ramesh is the sole survivor of the Air India Crash
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Picture showing his flight's boarding pass
But the singer revealed he was sitting in seat 11A when the plane went down in 1998.
The tragedy left 101 of the 132 passengers and 14 crew members dead. Some 45 people were injured.
It comes as...
Horror footage shows moment plane crashes into fireball
Woman
Names of
Pilot sent
More Brits killed than
A family shared a heartbreaking final selfie from onboard
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Ruangsak said he had "goosebumps" when it was
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, cheated death after being flung from his seat on the flaming Air India jet -
He said the plane broke off after the crash and his seat flung out of the wreckage.
Most read in The Sun
Ruangsak said: "The lone survivor of the plane crash in India was sitting in the same seat number as me, 11A.
Is THIS the moment that saved the sole Brit survivor? Vid shows debris fly from Air India jet…is it door he fled from?
"I want to offer my condolences to all those who lost loved ones in the tragedy."
Although the Thai man no longer has his ticket from the doomed flight almost three decades ago, he said the newspaper reports from the time had recorded his seat number.
It would also be available on the flight records, he added.
He said: "I had difficulty flying for 10 years after the crash. I would struggle to breathe, even though the air circulation was normal.
"I avoided speaking to anyone and always stared outside the window, blocking anyone from closing it to maintain my sense of safety.
"If I saw dark clouds or a rainstorm outside, I would feel terrible, like I was in hell.
"I can still remember the sounds, smells, and even the taste of the water in the swamp the plane crashed into.
"For a long time, I would keep the feelings to myself."
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner with 242 passengers on board -
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A newspaper report about the Thai crash
Credit: Asia Pacific Press via ViralPress
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Loychusak in a hospital aftr the crash
Credit: Asia Pacific Press via ViralPress
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The plane was seen disappearing behind buildings before the huge blast
Credit: X
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The plane was seen wedged in a building
Credit: Reuters
But Ramesh miralously escaped from the burning aircraft, becoming the only person to make it out alive.
Incredible footage shows him walking away from the wreckage almost unscathed.
Flanked by the locals, he can be seen making his way towards an ambulance with blood caking his face.
His boarding pass revealed he was sat on seat 11A,
next
to the flight's emergency exit.
Ramesh revealed how he survived the tragic crash that killed everyone on board but him.
Speaking in Hindi, he said: "Everything happened in front of me and I couldn't believe how I had come out alive.
"I thought for a second that I was going to die. But when I opened my eyes, I realised I was alive. I tried to slip out of the plane.
"I saw the air hostess, other passengers all in front of me. Within a few seconds, it felt the plane had stopped, and the green and white lights switched on.
"It felt like maybe [the pilot] suddenly accelerated to take off, but it went down to a hostel from there at high speed. I saw everything.
"The door broke [near me] broke off and I tried to slip out. The opposite side of the plane hit the wall. That's why others could not get out.
"When I got out, I was taken to the ambulance and rushed to the hospital. My treatment is going well, and the people are very supportive."
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Huge plumes of black smoke could be seen billowing into the sky
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The plane crashed into a doctor's hostel
Credit: EPA
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The Boeing 787 Dreamliner with 242 passengers on board - including 53 Brits - smashed into a doctors' hostel in Ahmedabad in the west of India.
The plane was headed to London Gatwick with 232 passengers and 10 crew on board when it crashed just seconds after take-off.
The Dreamliner lost contact just seconds after take-off, according to flight tracking website Flightradar.
A final alert was last logged less than a minute after it started the journey from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.
It had only reached 625ft at the time, officials believe.
Seconds before the crash, the Boeing was filmed flying low over the Meghani Nagar residential area with the pilots appearing to be in a desperate bid to keep the plane in the air.
Read more on the Irish Sun
Moments later, it was seen disappearing behind buildings before a huge blast was seen in the distance.
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The Irish Sun
13 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
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Extra.ie
13 hours ago
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Tragic stories of Air India passengers just emerging
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The Irish Sun
14 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Girl left ‘tasting jet fuel' in ocean & horror 2-mile fall – miraculous plane crash survivors…& why guilt haunts victims
SOMETIMES, in the midst of disaster, miracles happen. Just moments after taking off, 13 Vishwash Ramesh is the lone survivor of the devastating Air India crash that happened yesterday Credit: HT Photo 13 The flight, bound for the UK, came crashing down into buildings shortly after take-off Credit: Getty 13 Footage captured the terrifying moment the Air India flight crashed into the ground Credit: x/nchorAnandN 13 It was initially thought all 242 on board had been killed Credit: Twitter Astonishing footage showed Brit He was even able to produce his boarding pass before being whisked off to hospital, where he is being treated for minor injuries to his chest, eyes, and feet. Given the scale of disaster when plane crashes happen, it is very rare only There are only a handful of people who can say they were lucky enough to be the sole survivor. But many are left with scars - both physical and mental - traumatised by memories of plummeting from the sky, and haunted by the sudden loss of their family members. Speaking to the media shortly after his miraculous survival was confirmed, Vishwash said: 'Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. 'It all happened so quickly. 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. " Dr Marianne Trent, clinical psychologist and author of the Grief Collection, said Vishwash is likely to suffer from survivors guilt. She said: "There's no real sense why that should have been the one seat where the sole survivor sat. "People often swap seats on planes and he might have a sense of 'why me?'" Brit survivor WALKS AWAY unscathed from Air India plane crash after jumping from flaming jet 'America's Orphan' Vishwash isn't the only person to have walked away from a plane crash, losing family members in the process. At just four years old, Cecelia Crocker became the sole survivor when Northwest Airlines flight 225 crashed just moments after taking off from Detroit, in 1987. The other 154 people on board were killed, as were two people on the ground. But Cecelia Crocker survived - becoming known as 'America's Orphan'. "I think about the accident every day," said Crocker, now 42. "It's kind of hard not to think about it when I look in the mirror. I have visual scars, my arms and my legs and I have scars on my forehead." 13 At just four years old, Cecelia Crocker was the only survivor in a 1987 plane crash in which she lost all her family Credit: Sole Survivor 13 It is believed Cecelia's mum shielded her during the crash Credit: Sole Survivor 13 Cecelia in the hospital as a four-year-old after the crash Credit: AP Though Cecelia doesn't remember the incident herself, her mum, dad, and six-year-old brother David were all killed. It is believed that Cecelia's mum, Paula, shielded her. "When I realised I was the only person to survive that plane crash, I was maybe in middle school, high school maybe," Crocker said. "Being an adolescent and confused, so it was just extra stress for me. I remember feeling angry and survivor's guilt. Why didn't my brother survive? Why didn't anybody? Why me?" Dr Trent added that these feelings can linger on for years and affect every aspect of their lives. "You might not feel worthy of people's good thoughts and sympathy because you're not the one who died,' she said. There's a black hole between the moment when I was seated in the plane and the moment I found myself in the water Bahia Bakari "People with survivor's guilt withdraw into themselves, their world becomes smaller, there's an impact on their functioning, their ability to get things done.' Clinging for life Back in 2009, a Yemenia Airways flight plummeted into the Indian Ocean with its engines at full throttle. All 152 on board were killed - except 12-year-old She was left drifting in the water for hours with 'the taste of jet fuel' in her mouth, and only a piece of debris to cling on to. Speaking to a French court, she recalled the moment things started to go wrong. 'I started to feel the turbulence but nobody was reacting much, so I told myself it must be normal,' said Bahia. 'I felt something like an electric shock go through my body. There's a black hole between the moment when I was seated in the plane and the moment I found myself in the water.' 13 Bahia Bakari miraculously survived by clinging onto wreckage when she was aged just 12 Credit: AFP 13 The Yemenia Airways flight plummeted into the Indian Ocean Credit: AFP 13 Bahia spoke out about her experience for the first time in a French courtroom Credit: AP She remembers trying to climb up on to the wreckage, but lacked the strength to do so in the choppy waters. It was only in the hospital that she was told she was the lone survivor. Jungle fall Others who survived found themselves not in the water but in thick jungle - yet just as far from civilisation as anyone stuck in the ocean. Aged just 17, she survived not only a two-mile fall to the ground but a ten day trek through the Amazon. After flying into a dark cloud, her plane became engulfed by lightning, she recalled. I was in freefall. I could see the canopy of the jungle spinning towards me Juliane Koepcke 'My mother and I held hands but we were unable to speak. Other passengers began to cry and weep and scream,' she told the BBC. 'My mother said very calmly: 'That is the end, it's all over'. Those were the last words I ever heard from her. 'The plane jumped down and went into a nose-dive,' added Juliane. 'It was pitch black and people were screaming, then the deep roaring of the engines filled my head completely. 'Suddenly the noise stopped and I was outside the plane. I was in freefall. I could see the canopy of the Alone with a broken collarbone and deep cuts to her legs, and wearing only a short, sleeveless mini-dress and white sandals, she began to walk. 13 Juliane Koepcke trekked through the Amazon for ten days aged just 17 13 Annette Herfkens spent eight days in the Vietnamese jungle after her plane hit a mountain ridge Credit: Refer to Caption 13 Jim Polehinke was the only survivor of the 2006 Comair crash - in which he was co-pilot Credit: YouTube Only a small bag of sweets kept her from total starvation. Initially thinking she was hallucinating, Juliane came across a boat and a hut where she spent the night, pulling maggots out of a wound in her upper arm, before finally a group of men found her the next day and took her back to civilisation. Broken bones and collapsed lung Juliane's story has parallels to that of Annette Herfkens, who, aged 31, spent eight days in the Vietnamese jungle by herself awaiting rescue. After Vietnam Airlines flight 474 dropped from the sky in 1992, killing the other 30 people on board, Annette was left with twelve broken bones, her jaw hanging off and a collapsed lung. How miracle Brit may face mental battle THOUGH lucky to be alive, Brit Vishwash Kumar Ramesh may struggle with the mental impact of yesterday's Air India crash for decades, Dr Marianne Trent, clinical psychologist, told The Sun. "Post trauma people often struggle to sleep, have intrusive thoughts and there will be triggers such as noises and smells of the fire, the smoke, booking future holidays," she said. "All those stories of the people he met along the way, or maybe those he didn't take the time to talk to, will be replaying in his mind. He will be second guessing everything he did." Dr Trent said he may even feel guilt that he walked away with minor injuries. She said: "He may just feel grateful to survive and have walked away but it's very strange that only one person survived. "We need to allow him to feel what he's feeling. Survivors of fatal car crashes who escaped with minor injuries might wish they'd broken a leg or had something physical to show for their life changing experience. "They might ask 'why don't I look different.. How can I look like the same person?' It's harder for people to empathise if you look the same way too." Dr Trent added that memories of his brother might be forever entwined with the horror of the crash. "His experience will be overlapped by grief and trauma. "Usually if you think of a brother there are thoughts about songs you might have heard growing up together, or things you did, nice memories. "But when someone dies the whole relationship changes and those thoughts can make you feel really awful and send you right down into the depths again. "The fact this is all being played out on an international stage will also be extremely hard for him and he will need a lot of psychological help to come to terms with what has happened." Her plane had crashed into a mountain ridge and she now lay surrounded by the ripped-apart fuselage, with a dead stranger across her. 'That's where you have fight or flight - I definitely chose flight,' she told the Guardian. 'I stayed in the moment. I trusted that they were going to find me. I didn't think, 'What if a tiger comes?' I thought, 'I'll deal with it when the tiger comes.' I didn't think, 'What if I die?' I thought, 'I will see about it when I die.'' Crawling along by her elbows, she managed to capture water with parts of the plane's insulation until a rescue party carried her down in a hammock. Self-harm pain In all these cases, only one passenger made it out alive. But when the plane's pilot is the sole person spared death, the feelings of survivor's guilt can be even worse. The bad voice says, 'No, stay here, have another shot of liquor' Jim Polehinke Jim Polehinke was co-pilot aboard Com Air flight 5191, which crashed seconds after takeoff from Lexington, Kentucky in 2006. 'I've cried harder than any man has ever cried, or any man should be able to cry,' he said. 'My wife was there to support me to where I could just put my head on her shoulder and cry. 'It's that constant struggle where my inner voice wants to keep going forward. "The good voice says, 'Yeah, come on, you have the inner strength to do that,' but the bad voice says, 'No, stay here, have another shot of liquor.'' Dr Trent also highlighted how harmful behaviours can become a crutch for people to deal with survivor's guilt. She said: "Sometimes people become a risk to themselves through non intentional self injury, drinking too much, not showing and looking after themselves, taking recreational drugs to cope.'
