Moment miracle Brit survivor of Air India jet heads BACK to burning wreck to rescue brother saying ‘I have to save him'
THIS is the astonishing moment miracle Brit Vishwash Ramesh rushed back to the burning Air India plane to save his brother.
The 40-year-old sole survivor was captured staggering towards the blazing students' hostel - which claimed 38 lives - as black smoke billowed in the sky.
9
9
Footage emerged today shows emergency worker Satinder Singh Sandhu flailing his arms in the air in a desperate attempt to stop the Brit from walking back into the crash site.
Dressed in a white t-shirt and trousers, Vishwas is seen eventually wandering over to the emergency worker as flames leapt behind him.
Satinder revealed how he pleaded with the dad not to return to the inferno, warning he would died if he did.
He recalled shouting as loud as he could to grab the dazed man's attention, then "begging him not to go back in there."
Amid panicked crowds, the surviving Brit turned to Satinder and said: "My family member is in there, my brother and he's burning to death. I have to save him."
According to the emergency worker, Vishwas was very disoriented, and limping but was still able to speak coherently.
He told the Mail Online: "There was also blood on his face, but he was able to speak. He told the paramedics that he was flying to London when the plane fell and that he wanted to go back to save his family."
Locals appear rushing around in panic and calling the emergency services when they spotted him.
The businessman was taken to the 1,200-bed Civil Hospital less than a mile from Ahmedabad airport where the doomed Air India flight had taken off from before crashing just 33 seconds later.
His dad Ramesh has been at his bedside but has been too upset to talk since the tragedy in which he lost his youngest son Ajay.
Family friend Deepak Devjil said: 'He is still grappling with the tragedy.'
The dad received a special Father's Day gift yesterday when his four-year-old son sent his best wishes.
His youngster and wife have travelled to India following the crash and the family will soon be reunited, but Vishwash spoke to his son on the phone yesterday.
The story of Vishwash's escape has astounded the world - and left experts speculating over how he cheated death.
His brother, Ajaykumar Ramesh, 35, was sitting five seats away and tragically lost his life in the crash.
Vishwash was sitting in seat 11A when the plane came down, which is right by the emergency exit.
The Brit, whose family is from Leicester, told local media he was able to push open the plane's fuselage and get out before the plane blew up.
9
9
9
But it is currently unclear whether the opening Vishwash "slipped out" of was the emergency door or a rupture in the aircraft's fuselage.
Aerospace and aviation professor Graham Braithwaite speculated the lucky Brit may have actually been flung out of the wreckage.
He said: "The aircraft was loaded with fuel and it crashed into a heavily populated area.
"I can only imagine that he was thrown from the wreckage, and that somehow as it crashed, what it hit managed to absorb some of the impact."
He added: "Looking at the scene, I would imagine that the disruption to the aircraft would have been huge.
"If anybody could have got out, then they probably could have just gone out in a gap in the fuselage - you'd struggle to infer from this, therefore, that is the seat you must always sit in."
Vishwash has relayed his memory of the moment the plane went down, and his account could hold the key to figuring out what went wrong.
One detail in particular has peaked the interest of crash investigators.
The Brit revealed that the cabin lights began flickering just before the jet sank through the air.
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.
"The aircraft wasn't gaining altitude and was just gliding before it suddenly slammed into a building and exploded."
Vishwash's flickering lights revelation came after a passenger who travelled on the plane the day before the crash claimed electrical parts such as the back-of-seat screens weren't working.
Aviation experts have speculated that the reports of dodgy electrics could be a sign of a power failure, possibly explaining the crash.
9
9
9
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
39 minutes ago
- BBC News
Air India: How the Boeing Dreamliner crash investigation is unfolding
Less than 40 how long Air India Flight 171 was airborne before it plunged into a densely populated neighbourhood in Ahmedabad in one of India's rarest aviation disasters in recent now face the grim task of sifting through the wreckage and decoding the cockpit voice and flight data recorders of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner to piece together what went catastrophically wrong in the seconds after take-off. Under international rules set by the UN aviation body ICAO, a preliminary investigation report should be released within 30 days, with the final report ideally completed within 12 London Gatwick-bound aircraft, piloted by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and co-pilot Clive Kundar, lifted off from the western Indian city of Ahmedabad at 13:39 local time [08:09 GMT] on Thursday, with 242 people and nearly 100 tonnes of fuel on board. Within moments, a mayday call crackled from the cockpit. It would be the last transmission. This was followed by a loss of altitude and a crash engulfed in could have caused Air India plane to crash in 30 seconds?Captain Kishore Chinta, a former investigator with India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), calls this "the rarest of the rare" crashes - a controlled flight into terrain just 30 seconds after take-off. "To my knowledge, nothing quite like this has ever happened," he told the both engines fail due to bird strikes or fuel contamination? Were the flaps improperly extended, reducing lift on a heavily loaded jet in extreme heat? Was there a maintenance error during engine servicing? Or did an inadvertent crew action cut off fuel to both engines? Investigators will be probing all these possibilities - and more. Air crash investigations rely on triangulation and elimination - matching physical evidence from the wreckage with recorded aircraft performance data to build a coherent picture of what went scorched cable, damaged turbine blade, airplane maintenance log, and signals and sounds from the flight data and cockpit voice recorders - the so-called "black box" - will be examined. The BBC spoke to accident experts to understand how the investigation will the first clues on the ground may come from the wreckage of the two engines, at least three investigators said."You can tell from the damage whether the engines were generating power at impact - turbines fracture differently when spinning at high speed," says Peter Goelz, a former managing director of US's National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). "That's the first clue to what went wrong." Turbines are crucial rotating components that play a key role in extracting energy to generate thrust."If the engines weren't producing power, investigators have a serious case on their hands - and the focus will shift sharply to the cockpit."What happened in the cockpit will be revealed by the Boeing 787's Enhanced Airborne Flight Recorders (EAFRs) - or the "black boxes" - which, investigators say, will help tell the story. (Indian officials say the recorders have been recovered from the crash site.)These devices capture extensive flight data and cockpit audio - from pilot radio calls to ambient cockpit sounds. Voice recordings come from individual pilot mics, radio transmissions and an area microphone that picks up background noise in the recorders track with high precision the position of gear and flap levers, thrust settings, engine performance, fuel flow and even fire handle activation. "If the flight data recorder shows the engines were making full power, then the attention will move to the flaps and slats. If they are found to be extended as needed, then it becomes a very difficult investigation," says Mr Goelz. Flaps and slats increase lift at lower speeds, helping an aircraft take off and land safely by allowing it to fly slower without stalling."If [the trail leads] to a problem in the flight management control system, that would raise serious concerns - not just for Boeing, but for the entire aviation industry."The Boeing 787's flight management control system is a highly automated suite that manages navigation, performance and guidance. It integrates data from a number of sensors to optimise the aircraft's flight path and fuel over 1,100 Boeing 787s flying worldwide since 2011, investigators must determine whether this was a systemic issue that could affect the global fleet - or a one-off failure unique to this flight, experts say. "If it points to a system problem, then the regulatory bodies have to make some tough decisions very quickly," says Mr far, there is no indication of fault on anyone's part. India's civil aviation ministry said on Tuesday that a recent inspection of Air India's Boeing 787 fleet - 24 of 33 aircraft have been checked so far - "did not reveal any major safety concern," adding that the planes and maintenance systems complied with existing President and CEO Kelly Ortberg said on 12 June: "Boeing will defer to India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) for information on Air India Flight 171, in line with UN ICAO protocol."Decoding of the data at the AAIB lab in Delhi will be led by Indian investigators, with experts from Boeing, engine-maker GE, Air India and Indian regulators. Investigators from the NTSB and UK will also be participating."In my experience, teams can usually determine what happened fairly quickly," Mr Goelz says. "But understanding why it happened can take much longer."The wreckage may yield other clues. "Every part - wire, nut, bolt - will be meticulously collected," says Mr Chinta. Typically, wreckage is moved to a nearby hangar or secure facility, laid out to identify the nose, tail and wingtips, and then pieced together. In this case, depending on what the flight data and voice recorders reveal, a full reconstruction may not be necessary, investigators importance of wreckage varies by accident, say investigators. For Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, shot down over eastern Ukraine in July 2014, it was crucial - reconstruction of the nose revealed clear shrapnel damage from a Russian-made missile. In the wreckage, investigators will also examine fuel filters, lines, valves and residual fuel to check for contamination - something that's easy to detect or rule out, a crash investigator who preferred to remain unnamed, said. Also, he believed that the refuelling equipment used before departure "has likely been quarantined and already inspected".That's not all. Investigators will gather maintenance and fault history records from the airline and Boeing's ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting system) which transmits data via radio or satellite to both Boeing and Air India, says Mr will review all flights operated by the aircraft and the crew over recent months, along with the technical log of pilot-reported faults and corrective actions taken before release of aircraft to will also examine pilot licenses, training records, simulator performance and instructor remarks - including how pilots handled scenarios like engine failures in advanced flight simulators. "I reckon Air India would have already provided these records to the investigation team," says Mr will review the service history of all components of the aircraft that were removed and replaced, examining reported defects for any recurring issues - or signs of problems that could have affected this flight."These investigations are extraordinarily complex. They take time, but there will be early indicators of what likely went wrong," says Mr Goelz.A big reason is how far technology has come. "One of the first accidents I investigated in 1994 had a flight data recorder tracking just four parameters," he says."Today's recorders capture hundreds - if not thousands - every second. That alone has transformed the way we investigate crashes."Follow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
BBC News
7 hours ago
- BBC News
Leicester family desperate for news after Air India plane crash
The family of a British man feared to have been on board the Air India flight that crashed in India say they are desperate for answers about what happened to Rafik was returning home to Leicester when the plane he was due to be travelling on crashed into a residential area in Ahmedabad on 25-year-old's family say they have not yet received official confirmation about whether he was on board or if so what has happened to his cousin Sameer Rafik said his family had been left "completely stuck and don't know what to do". A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said an advice helpline and a support centre had been set up near the airport. On Tuesday, Sameer said his family had provided DNA more than four days ago, but had still heard nothing."There's no update on him, we don't know if he's dead or alive," he said."We are still hoping to hear some good news from India but unfortunately we aren't getting any update from anywhere."Faizan's dad was asked to give DNA - it's been more than four days now. We were supposed to have heard from the hospital by Monday but we haven't heard anything."We need to get some update about my brother. Was he there in the flight crash? If he wasn't on the flight where is he? If he is on the flight then what's the condition of the body?"The plane was carrying 242 people when it crashed shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad airport, in western India, including 53 was a single passenger Vishwash Kumar Ramesh who survived the crash. Faizan was retuning the UK after visiting his wife in Bharuch, Gujarat for their first Eid celebration has backed calls for the UK government to provide more support to the families of the victims involved in the added: "We haven't had anything from the UK or India – it feels like he was the one paying tax to this country and the government doesn't bother about the person who has died."It feels very awful. He's nothing to the government – just a piece of paper, feels like tearing it up and throwing it in the bin."We don't know what to do because we're completely blank. We need some kind of support from someone, we need a guide about what to do but we don't have that at the moment."Over the weekend, doctors in India said 270 bodies had been recovered from the site of the crash. A statement from the FCDO said: "Our staff continue to work around the clock in the UK and India to support the families and loved ones of all those impacted by the crash."The BBC has contacted Air India for a statement and is awaiting a response.
Scottish Sun
9 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Moment miracle Brit survivor of Air India jet heads BACK to burning wreck to rescue brother saying ‘I have to save him'
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) THIS is the astonishing moment miracle Brit Vishwash Ramesh rushed back to the burning Air India plane to save his brother. The 40-year-old sole survivor was captured staggering towards the blazing students' hostel - which claimed 38 lives - as black smoke billowed in the sky. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 9 Vishwash walking by the crash site as the wreckage burns behind him 9 Rescuers work to remove parts of the wreckage from the rubble 9 Brit survivor is heard saying he needs to go back and rescue his brother Credit: Twitter Footage emerged today shows emergency worker Satinder Singh Sandhu flailing his arms in the air in a desperate attempt to stop the Brit from walking back into the crash site. Dressed in a white t-shirt and trousers, Vishwas is seen eventually wandering over to the emergency worker as flames leapt behind him. Satinder revealed how he pleaded with the dad not to return to the inferno, warning he would died if he did. He recalled shouting as loud as he could to grab the dazed man's attention, then "begging him not to go back in there." Amid panicked crowds, the surviving Brit turned to Satinder and said: "My family member is in there, my brother and he's burning to death. I have to save him." According to the emergency worker, Vishwas was very disoriented, and limping but was still able to speak coherently. He told the Mail Online: "There was also blood on his face, but he was able to speak. He told the paramedics that he was flying to London when the plane fell and that he wanted to go back to save his family." Locals appear rushing around in panic and calling the emergency services when they spotted him. The businessman was taken to the 1,200-bed Civil Hospital less than a mile from Ahmedabad airport where the doomed Air India flight had taken off from before crashing just 33 seconds later. His dad Ramesh has been at his bedside but has been too upset to talk since the tragedy in which he lost his youngest son Ajay. Pilot of doomed India Air jet hailed a hero by locals who cheated death by a few feet Family friend Deepak Devjil said: 'He is still grappling with the tragedy.' The dad received a special Father's Day gift yesterday when his four-year-old son sent his best wishes. His youngster and wife have travelled to India following the crash and the family will soon be reunited, but Vishwash spoke to his son on the phone yesterday. The story of Vishwash's escape has astounded the world - and left experts speculating over how he cheated death. His brother, Ajaykumar Ramesh, 35, was sitting five seats away and tragically lost his life in the crash. Vishwash was sitting in seat 11A when the plane came down, which is right by the emergency exit. The Brit, whose family is from Leicester, told local media he was able to push open the plane's fuselage and get out before the plane blew up. 9 Buildings were left charred from the crash Credit: Dan Charity 9 Debris at the site of the plane crash Credit: EPA 9 A grieving resident upon hearing news of her brother's death Credit: Reuters But it is currently unclear whether the opening Vishwash "slipped out" of was the emergency door or a rupture in the aircraft's fuselage. Aerospace and aviation professor Graham Braithwaite speculated the lucky Brit may have actually been flung out of the wreckage. He said: "The aircraft was loaded with fuel and it crashed into a heavily populated area. "I can only imagine that he was thrown from the wreckage, and that somehow as it crashed, what it hit managed to absorb some of the impact." He added: "Looking at the scene, I would imagine that the disruption to the aircraft would have been huge. "If anybody could have got out, then they probably could have just gone out in a gap in the fuselage - you'd struggle to infer from this, therefore, that is the seat you must always sit in." Vishwash has relayed his memory of the moment the plane went down, and his account could hold the key to figuring out what went wrong. One detail in particular has peaked the interest of crash investigators. The Brit revealed that the cabin lights began flickering just before the jet sank through the air. 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. "The aircraft wasn't gaining altitude and was just gliding before it suddenly slammed into a building and exploded." Vishwash's flickering lights revelation came after a passenger who travelled on the plane the day before the crash claimed electrical parts such as the back-of-seat screens weren't working. Aviation experts have speculated that the reports of dodgy electrics could be a sign of a power failure, possibly explaining the crash. 9 A fire officer stands next to the crashed Air India Boeing Credit: Reuters 9 Vishwash, a British national, was the only survivor Credit: HT Photo 9 India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the site where the plane crashed Credit: Reuters
