Air India crash survivor's family have received ‘no support' in desperate bid to see relative
The family of Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the sole survivor of the Air India crash, claim they have received 'no support' from the governments of the UK or India as they try to fly out to see their relative 'as soon as possible'.
Hiren Kantilal, Ramesh's cousin, revealed that 14 family members have so far been unsuccessful in their attempts to board a plane to Ahmedabad, after their flight out on Friday morning (June 13) was cancelled and other airlines have 'ignored' their pleas.
Speaking outside his Leicestershire home, Kantilal said: 'We haven't got any support from the Indian or UK governments at all. We are heartbroken that this happened to us and they're not helping us with flight tickets.'
He also added that the family is 'totally heartbroken' over the death of Vishwash's brother, Ajay Kumar Ramesh.
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Daily Mail
35 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
British Air India disaster survivor's first words to his father after he survived the crash are revealed as more bodies are recovered and death toll rises to 279
The first words the sole survivor of the devastating Air India flight said to his father after his brother was killed on the Gatwick-bound aircraft has been revealed. British national, Viswashkumar Ramesh, 40 was returning from a business trip in India with his brother Ajay Kumar, 35, when they boarded the doomed flight from Ahmedabad to Gatwick on Thursday. In what has been described as a miracle, Viswash Kumar, who was seated in 11A survived the disaster, which is said to be one of the worst in India's aviation history, having claimed the lives of 279 people so far. Among the victims believed to be dead, which includes 53 British nationals, is the 40-year-old's brother Ajay Kumar, who was sat on the other side of the aisle in seat 11J perished in the fireball explosion. Terrifying CCTV footage showed the Boeing 787 Dreamliner careen to the ground shortly after take off in the densely populated Meghani area of the city at around 1.40pm local time (8.10am BST). Detailing the moments after the crash, Viswash described seeing several passengers and crew lose their lives as parts of the plane were scattered around the site. He managed to escape after his side of the plane fell onto the ground of a floor building, forcing his way out of the plane, past a broken door before being assisted by locals and taken to hospital in an ambulance. Still clutching his boarding pass at the hospital, he called his father in the aftermath of the tragedy. His brother Nyan Kumar Ramesh told Sky News: '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'.' A video posted to social media appeared to show the plane descending in a controlled manner with a high nose angle and landing gear deployed The plane momentarily disappeared from view behind trees and buildings before a massive fireball erupted on the horizon in this horrifying clip Devastatingly, injured Viswash has been begging from his hospital bed: 'Find Ajay, you must find Ajay.' His cousin, Ajay Valgi, told the BBC, how Viswash has a wife and 'little boy' at home: adding: 'He only said that he's fine, nothing else. [We are] happy that he's OK, but we're still upset about the other brother.' Previously said of his younger cousin's, Ajay's death: 'I'm feeling absolutely upset. He's not just my cousin, he's also one of my best friends as well. 'They were sitting next to eachother, but we don't know what happened to [Ajay Kumar]. We're not doing well. We're all upset.' On Thursday, relatives gathered at the family's terraced home in Leicester to comfort the brothers' mother who is said to be too grief-stricken to speak. 'It's a miracle at least one of them survived,' younger brother Nayan said. 'He said his plane had crashed and he couldn't find anyone, we couldn't believe it. There was blood running down his face. The tragedy's death toll has since increased to 279 dead, according to a senior Indian police source, making it one of the deadliest plane disasters of the 21st century. This is a further increase on an earlier figure of 265 victims, which includes those on the plane and grounds. The siblings had been a few seats apart onboard the plane, with survivor Viswash sat at 11A and his younger brother positioned at 11J on the other side of the aisle Air India said there were 242 people on board the London-bound flight, with only one survivor, with at least 38 people killed on the ground when the plane smashed into residential buildings. The official casualty number will not be finalised until the slow process of DNA identification is completed. Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian on board the flight, as well as 12 crew members. MailOnline previously revealed the British victims were Akeel Nanawaba, Hannaa Vorajee and their daughter Sarah, 4, Fiongal and Jamie Greenlaw-Meek, Javed Ali Syed, his wife and two children, Raxa Modha, her grandson Rudra and her daughter-in-law Yasha Kamdar, and Ajay Kumar Ramesh, the brother of the tragedy's only survivor. Relatives of Harrods ambassador Mariam Ali Syed, 35, her husband Javed - a manager at the Best Western Kensington Olympia Hotel - have spoken out since the tragedy. The couple's children Zayn, five, and Amani, four, are believed to be the youngest named victims of the crash so far. Mrs Ali Syed's sister-in-law, Yasmine Hassan, 45, broke down while confirming the children's names, and pleaded with officials to offer more support to the families of the 53 British citizens onboard the flight. 'They are so small, they are five and four. And it's just thinking how scared they must have been,' she told the Telegraph. 'We're not angry about the lack of answers [from UK government officials] – we understand that takes time. 'We're angry because no one has reached out to offer support or even ask if we need anything. These are British citizens.' Adam Taju, 72, and his wife Hasina, 70, were flying back to the UK with their son-in-law Altafhusen Patel, 51, when they lost their lives in the tragedy, The four had been spending time with Mr Taju's 96-year-old father in India to celebrate Eid, their son Altaf Taju told MailOnline. 'He's the one they wanted to see because he's 96 and it's very hot in India. No one goes to India this time of year but they said 'We don't know how long he's going to be around, let's go and celebrate Eid.' Altaf added : 'I'm the eldest person in the family now. I'm here with my sisters. I'm flying out with my two sisters. The other one can't make it as she's a cancer patient. Adam was a retired machinist who'd worked making leather coats and Hasina had been a housewife. The couple, who had lived in a terraced property in Ilford since the 1970s, had four children, a boy and three girls. One of their daughters who lives has since flown back to Redbridge to be with family. Adam's son, Altaf Taju, told the Mail the family hoped to be flying out to India by Sunday, so they could conduct the burials next week. Mr Taju, who is from Blackburn, said he'd travelled down to London to support his sister Shamim who was married to Altafhusen Patel. Altaf and Shamim had a 26-year-old son, Amman, who was holidaying in Malaysia with wife Imaan, 22, when the plane crash happened. Mr Taju said: 'I'm okay. I'm the eldest son of the family. My uncle rang me to tell me what had happened. 'We've lost three members of my family and my brother in law who's married to my sister. My sister is alone here.' Explaining how burials of his family members will take place in their respective home villages, his mother and father in Sansrod, Gujarat and his brother-in-law in Bharuch, Mr Taju called for the release of the bodies. 'We need to get the release of the bodies and bring them home and start mourning in the Islamic way, whatever is left of them,' he said. 'I have told them to wait for us, until we get there, because I want to put them down in the grave.' Friend and neighbour Iqbal Hussain, 44, who has known Adam and Hasina since he was a child, described them as a 'smiling' and 'loving family'. 'It's a sad thing. They were happy when they left [to go to India]. They were going on holiday to celebrate Eid,' he said. 'They were part of the Neighbourhood Watch group. We're all devastated. 'Anything they needed we'd help them with. They weren't very IT savvy and I used to help them out,' the IT manager added: 'We grew up with their children. I was friends with Afia, their youngest daughter.' Recalling the moment his local councillor who's from the Gujarat community informed him of the plane crash, as well as Adam and Hasina being on board, Mr Hussain said: ''I thought 'That cannot be true'. 'I called the youngest daughter [Afia]. She was crying. She didn't say much. All she said was 'Say prayers for my parents'. She was hoping they were okay and alive.' Councillor Salim Patel described Adam as 'a wonderful man, a community man', who was 'always out and about supporting communities'. 'He will be very missed,' he said: 'It will take a very long time for this community to accept he's not there. It's a great loss, to lose him as a human being. 'Whatever the community needed he would stand up with the community, whether it was to help campaign against fly-tipping or help people in need during Covid. 'Whenever I needed his support, he would be there. 'He was a kind and humble gentleman. There are no words to describe how we are going to miss him. I've known him for nearly 30 years. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner issued a mayday call moments before it crashed around lunchtime on Thursday after lifting barely 100 metres (330 feet) from the ground. Investigators have also since recovered a black box recorder on Friday from the crash site, with forensic teams still looking for the second. US planemaker Boeing said it was in touch with Air India and stood 'ready to support them' over the incident, which a source close to the case said was the first crash for a 787 Dreamliner. It comes as an aviation expert believes the co-pilot on Air India flight AI171 pulled the plane's wing flaps instead of retracting the landing gear, causing the plane to crash. Commercial airline pilot and YouTuber Captain Steve, who analyzes plane crashes and close calls, gave his theory on the incident which killed 241 people on board. The London -bound 787 Dreamliner began losing height moments after take-off and crashed in a fireball over a residential area in the Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Steve said he suspected there had been an exceptionally simple error in the cockpit when the co-pilot was asked to retract the landing gear, with devastating consequences. He said: 'Here's what I think happened, again folks this is just my opinion. I think the pilot flying said to the co-pilot said 'gear up' at the appropriate time. Rescuers work at the site of an airplane that crashed in India's northwestern city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat state, Thursday, June12, 2025 The tail of the Dreamliner plane that crashed, hitting buildings in a residential area Remnants of the fuselage and the landing gear were seen dangling through a gaping hole in the side of what appeared to be a canteen, with half-finished plates of food clearly visible on benches inside Parts of the jet appeared to have smashed into the BJ Medical College and Civil Hospital Read More Expert's theory on simple mistake he thinks Air India co-pilot made that caused crash and killed 265 'I think the co-pilot grabbed the flap handle and raised the flaps, instead of the gear. If that happened, this explains a lot of why this airplane stopped flying.' Steve said that the flaps being raised would cause the flight to lose airspeed and altitude quickly, something he thinks the pilot would have struggled to control. He explained his theory by saying the 787's composite wings would normally bend during take off as lift forces take it into the air. But the Air India plane appears to show no such bending, amid widespread speculation the flaps which help lift the plane off had accidentally been retracted. It remains unclear what caused Thursday's tragedy, with mechanical failure or pilot error among the possible causes that investigators will now work to identify. Among those believed to have died is Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, the pilot operating the Boeing 787. Mr Sabharwal, who had 8,200 hours of experience, was named as the pilot of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. First Officer Clive Kunder, from Mumbai and who was co-piloting, had logged 1,100 of flying hours and completed his training at the Florida-based Paris Air Flight School.
The Sun
42 minutes ago
- The Sun
Popular food brand urgently recalls pies over fears they could be out of date – check if you are you affected
A POPULAR food brand has issued an urgent recall of its pies over fears they may be out of date – check if yours is affected. Pieminister Kitchens has confirmed that several of its products were given the wrong use-by date. 1 The pies were mistakenly labelled with a use-by date of June 24, 2026, instead of June 24, 2025 – a full year too late. The popular food brand warned that eating the pies past the intended expiry date would be unsafe. Pieminister products that were mislabeled Here are the Pieminister products that were mislabeled, with the correct date for safe consumption being June 24, 2025: Pieminister Moo - British Beef Steak and Craft Ale Pie Pieminister Moo & Blue - British Beef Steak and Stilton Pie Pieminister Kate & Sidney - British Beef Steak, Kidney and Craft Ale Pie Pieminister Deer & Beer - Venison, Milk Stout, Mushroom and Thyme Pie Pieminister Free Ranger - Free Range British Chicken and Ham Pie with Leek Pieminister Fungi Chicken - Free Range British Chicken, Portobello and Chestnut Mushroom Pieminister Wild Shroom - Portobello and Chestnut Mushroom Pie with Asparagus and White Wine Pieminister Mooless Moo - Jackfruit 'Steak', Craft Ale and Black Pepper Pie Pieminister - Goat's Cheese and Sweet Potato Filo Pie with Red Onion and Spinach Pieminister - Spinach and Feta Filo Pie with Kale, Lemon and Dill Shoppers who purchased any of these items can get a full refund by returning them to the store where they were bought, according to the beloved food brand. Pieminister fans with questions can contact the company by email at hello@ or call 0117 942 3300. It comes after Lidl urgently recalled a popular breakfast item over fears it contains pieces of metal. The supermarket giant has pulled Harvest Basket Hash Browns from its shelves and urged customers to return the product immediately. Shoppers were advised to avoid the 750g frozen goods following concerns they are unsafe to eat and pose a serious choking hazard. Warning notices will be issued in stores across the country to return the item with a batch number 5144L and best before date 24 May 2027. The Food Standards Agency confirmed yesterday that any customer returning the breakfast favourite will be issued with a full refund. Anyone who has purchased the product has been advised to call 0203 966 5566 or email Staying Safe with Product Recalls in the UK In a statement, the budget retailer said: " Lidl GB is recalling the product due to the potential presence of foreign bodies (metal) which may present a choking hazard. "If you have bought the above product we advise you not to eat it. "Customers are asked to return this product to the nearest store where a full refund will be issued." This follows an urgent warning which was issued to UK shops selling a popular sweet product. And a popular children's toy has been urgently recalled after it was found to have a "serious risk of suffocating". Your product recall rights Chief consumer reporter James Flanders reveals all you need to know. Product recalls are an important means of protecting consumers from dangerous goods. As a general rule, if a recall involves a branded product, the manufacturer would usually have lead responsibility for the recall action. But it's often left up to supermarkets to notify customers when products could put them at risk. If you are concerned about the safety of a product you own, always check the manufacturer's website to see if a safety notice has been issued. When it comes to appliances, rather than just food items, the onus is usually on you - the customer - to register the appliance with the manufacturer as if you don't there is no way of contacting you to tell you about a fault. If you become aware that an item you own has been recalled or has any safety noticed issued against it, make sure you follow the instructions given to you by the manufacturer. They should usually provide you with more information and a contact number on its safety notice. In some cases, the manufacturer might ask you to return the item for a full refund or arrange for the faulty product to be collected. You should not be charged for any recall work - such as a repair, replacement or collection of the recalled item.
The Independent
43 minutes ago
- The Independent
Why did the Air India flight crash? Here's how experts will investigate the 30-second disaster
Investigators in India are trying to identify the cause of the Air India plane crash that killed all but one of the 242 passengers onboard. The flight, which had been bound for London Gatwick, came down shortly after taking off from the western city of Ahmadabad. With speculation rife about the cause of the disaster, safety experts will soon be joined by a team from the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) to work out what happened before the disaster on flight AI171 unfolded. According to air traffic control at Ahmedabad Airport, the aircraft departed at 1:39 p.m. (0809 GMT) from runway 23. It gave a Mayday call almost immediately, signalling an emergency, but thereafter there was no response from the aircraft. Footage from the ground shows that the the plane was only in the air for around 30 seconds before it appeared to run into trouble, the BBC reports. The investigators will draw evidence – including radar, CCTV and crucially the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) – to understand what factors were involved in the accident, the first fatal one involving the Boeing 787. If there is evidence of a previously unknown problem that could jeopardise the safety of other aircraft, they will announce their initial conclusions as soon as possible. As always in the early stages of an investigation, aviation safety experts will consider a wide spectrum of possible contributory factors. These are the key areas they will be looking at. Bird strike Twin-engined aircraft like the Boeing 787 are engineered to be able to take off on a single engine, even if a bird strike happens at the worst possible moment. Could both engines have been put out of action as the Air India aircraft climbed? In the ' Miracle on the Hudson' plane crash in 2009, both engines of a US Air aircraft lost power shortly after take off from New York's La Guardia airport. On that occasion, the plane had gained more altitude and was able to crash-land on water, with all on board surviving. Mechanical issues As the investigators sift through the wreckage, they will be looking to see if there was some kind of failure, possibly involving power, that left the pilots helpless to control their aircraft in the crucial seconds after take off. Philip Baum, visiting professor of aviation security at Coventry University told The Independent it 'seems likely' the accident was caused by system or multiple systems failures. Human factors Taking off with a heavy load of fuel, passengers and cargo in hot weather is challenging at the best of times. Could these highly trained and experienced pilots have made decisions and taken actions that jeopardised the safety of the aircraft? A captain for a leading US carrier said some focus should be given to the flap settings – the moveable panels on an aircraft's wings – used for take-off for 'a heavy airplane on a hot day, and resulting poor performance which ultimately may have led to a stall'. Investigators will be examining the wreckage, the recorders and will also be delving into the background and health of the crew. Malicious act Tragically, over the years individuals and groups have repeatedly downed aircraft for reasons ranging from grudges to terrorism. But Professor Baum said it was 'unlikely there was anything more sinister at play'.
