Ahmedabad plane crash: Just can't believe my luck, says 'The Man Who Lived'
Viswashkumar Ramesh's mother (R) mourns for her other son Ajay, who was on the same flight, in Leicester on Friday
AHMEDABAD: Viswashkumar Ramesh just walked out from the wreckage of a burning and battered aircraft that took with it the lives of everyone else who had checked in with him. He stumbled away from the torn Air India Dreamliner with minor bruises on his face and mild burns on his arms.
As the world wonders how, with incredulous news anchors asking that question from television studios in almost every part of the globe, the 40-year-old British national will perhaps for the rest of his life have to live with the agony and ecstasy of a miracle few have or will witness in their time on this earth.
From his hospital bed in Ahmedabad, a still-rattled Viswash said on Friday, "I can't believe that I survived. For some time, I thought I too was going to die.
Sir (PM Modi) asked me what happened. I told him I don't know... It all happened so fast."
Not surprisingly, 11A - the seat Viswash occupied - has now become a universal lucky number.
'5-10 secs after take-off, I felt plane was stuck...'
The miracle survivor had a special visitor on Friday. PM Narendra Modi spoke to him in Gujarati at the hospital where he is recuperating, Dhirendra Somabhai, Viswash's cousin, told TOI.
"Kevu chhe tane? (How are you feeling?)," Modi asked, before inquiring if he was receiving good care. Viswash replied that he was feeling better. "Viswash lost Ajay, his younger brother, in the crash. The PM offered him his condolences and asked him to remain strong and take care of the family," said Somabhai.
"When I opened my eyes after the plane went down, I realised I was alive. I saw charred bodies of an air hostess and elderly passengers," Viswash later said.
"I unfastened the seatbelt and escaped." Ajay was seated in a different row, on 11J. He is among the victims whose DNA confirmation is awaited.
Viswash, originally from Diu, said immediately after take-off, he sensed something was wrong. "Within five to 10 seconds, I felt the plane had got stuck... The lights turned white and green. The plane was trying to race for take-off, and then it crashed..." He was lucky his side of the aircraft did not fall on the hostel for medical students.
"That part landed on the ground, and I could see there was space outside (to move).
So, when my door broke, I attempted an escape and was successful," he said. "The other side was blocked by a wall so nobody could have escaped from there."
Viswash's father, who resides in London, is scheduled to arrive in Ahmedabad on Saturday to attend the last rites of Ajay. Viswash and Ajay, along with their families and parents, have lived in London for 15 years, managing a garment business in England and a fishing operation in Diu.
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