The lone passenger who survived the deadly Air India crash sparks interest in other sole survivors
A medic has said Vishwashkumar Ramesh was thrown out of the plane and walked to a nearby ambulance for aid. Dr. Dhaval Gameti, who treated Ramesh, told The Associated Press that Ramesh was disoriented with multiple injuries all over his body, but that he seemed to be out of danger.
People on social media have been commenting about the idea of only one person surviving the crash, calling it unreal, remarkable, a work of divine intervention, and a miracle.
In recent decades, several other people have been the lone survivors of plane crashes.
Cecelia Crocker — known as Cecelia Cichan at the time of the 1987 crash — was aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 255 when it crashed in the Detroit suburb of Romulus, killing 154 people on board, including her parents and brother. Two people also died on the ground.
The Phoenix-bound plane was clearing the runway when it tilted and the left wing clipped a light pole before shearing the top off a rental car building. The McDonnell Douglas MD80 left a half-mile trail of bodies and wreckage along Middle Belt Road.
The National Transportation Safety Board concluded the plane's crew failed to set the wing flaps properly for takeoff. The agency also said a cockpit warning system did not alert the crew to the problem.
Cichan said in a 2013 documentary that she thought about the crash every day and that she had scars on her arms, legs and forehead. She had also gotten an airplane tattoo on her wrist.
'I got this tattoo as a reminder of where I've come from. I see it as — so many scars were put on my body against my will — and I decided to put this on my body for myself,' she said in the film.
At least three other people have been 'sole survivors' of plane crashes.
George Lamson Jr., then a 17-year-old from Plymouth, Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985.
Lamson in a social media post Thursday said the news of a plane crash in India with only one survivor shook him.
'There are no right words for moments like this, but I wanted to acknowledge it,' he said. 'These events don't just make headlines. They leave a lasting echo in the lives of those who've lived through something similar.'
Bahia Bakari, then 12, lived through a Yemenia Airways flight that crashed near the Comoro Islands in 2009.
Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky.
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BBC News
17 hours ago
- BBC News
James Fenton: Burma Star veteran recalls 'godsend' of VJ Day
Veteran James Fenton was in India preparing for an attack on the Japanese mainland when Japan surrendered to the Allied forces on 15 August 1945, ending World War 103-year-old described the surrender as a "godsend" for his unit, who were fighting in East last surviving Burma Star recipient living on the Isle of Man, Mr Fenton will be joining other veterans at a service at the UK's National Memorial Arboretum to mark the 80th anniversary of Victory over Japan (VJ) Burma Campaign was a series of battles fought between December 1941 and September 1945, concluding after Japan's Fenton, who was born in Lancashire, said it was only then that he thought he "might have survived the war". Mr Fenton grew up in Oswaldtwistle before being drafted into the Lancashire Fusiliers in July 1942, joining the Royal Artillery after his basic training was February the following year, the 178th Field Regiment he was part of was sent the journey onboard the Britannic, a leisure ship seconded to the military as part of the war effort, he said: "We didn't know where we were going."They had given us tropical kit but, of course, it's all very secretive and nobody wants to say where you're going to give anything away to the enemy."Arriving six weeks later in Cape Town, South Africa, the regiment transferred to another ship for the journey to Bombay in India, now known as Mumbai."When we got there, of course, we knew it was fairly obvious where we were going - we were going to be fighting the Japanese in Burma." Mr Fenton said combat in the jungle posed several practical challenges when advancing towards enemy forces."The difficulty is, when you're moving forward, you had to move somewhere where you could fire the guns," he said."In the middle of the jungle you couldn't just put them anywhere, you had to fire so that the guns weren't obstructed by the jungle or the trees."He recalled men sleeping in pairs in trenches, dug into the ground in a circle to protect the gun position, as the "nights were pretty calm".He said although the Japanese forces "didn't very often attack at night", they did "frequently shell us to keep us awake"."We didn't very often fire back during the night it was just a straight occasion, it was the Japanese firing us."Remembering the news filtering through of the Allied forces' victory in Europe in May 1945, he said: "Everybody was having street parties and we were there in the middle of a jungle firing guns, and Japanese firing at us, and this was still carrying on." As the Allied Forces drove the Japanese forces out of Burma in 1945, Mr Fenton's unit was moved to prepare for another offensive."Because my unit was an assault unit they then took us back into India and we were retraining again to make an attack on the Japanese mainland," he said."And that would have been a terrific problem and horrible for us."He said when news of the Japanese surrender came through he and his comrades were "more than relieved".That surrender was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August 1945, following the United States' destruction of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki."We realised if they hadn't dropped that atomic bomb at that time, if perhaps they had delayed that for three months, maybe four months, we were in a position then to make a landing on the Japanese mainland," he said."And that eventually would mean the slaughter of so many of the British and European and native soldiers that were making this attack."So that fortunately was really a godsend as far as I was concerned because I knew then that I might have survived the war." But VJ Day did not mark the end of Mr Fenton's service in East Asia, as his unit went into Singapore as occupation troops. "After this my time came along to get back home to England and I had then to wait for a ship to sail me back from Singapore back to Britain," he said."Getting back to England was a great sensation, we were going back sailing up through the channel, and disembarking at Liverpool we got a great welcome." Mr Fenton said he had only shared his memories later in life as ex-servicemen "never ever used to talk about the war" in its said he and his brother, Harry Fenton, who took part in the D-Day landings, had fought in the same war in different parts of the world but never discussed their experiences."I don't know what beach, or even where he landed," he being invited to attend the Royal British Legion's national service to mark the 80th anniversary of VJ Day, Mr Fenton was keen to accept."I heard that there were going to be people asked to celebrate, if you don't mind - celebrate - this occasion because it was going to be the last one," he said. "I thought, I can't say I'm a fit man and there are many things wrong with me, but I thought well if I can still manage to get there, I'm going."So there I am, I'm going." The BBC will broadcast a special programme live on BBC One and iPlayer, on Friday 15 of August between 11:30am - 1:00pm from the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X.
Glasgow Times
a day ago
- Glasgow Times
At least 44 dead in flash floods on popular Himalayan pilgrimage route
Rescue teams scouring the devastated Himalayan village brought at least 200 people to safety. Following a cloudburst in the region's Chositi village, which triggered floods and landslides, disaster management official Mohammed Irshad estimated that at least 50 people were still missing, with many believed to have been washed away. A building damaged in flash floods caused by torrential rains is seen in a remote, mountainous village in the Chositi area, India-controlled Kashmir (AP) India's deputy minister for science and technology, Jitendra Singh, warned that the disaster 'could result in substantial' loss of life. At least 50 of the rescued people, many of whom were brought from a stream under mud and debris, were seriously injured and were being treated in local hospitals, said Susheel Kumar Sharma, a local official. Chositi is a remote Himalayan village in Kashmir's Kishtwar district and is the last village accessible to motor vehicles on the route of an ongoing annual Hindu pilgrimage to a mountainous shrine at an altitude of 3,000 metres (9,500 feet) and about an eight-kilometre (5-mile) trek from the village. Multiple pilgrims were also feared to be affected by the disaster. Officials said that the pilgrimage had been suspended and more rescue teams were on the way to the area to strengthen rescue and relief operations. The pilgrimage began on July 25 and was scheduled to end on September 5. The first responders to the disaster were villagers and local officials who were later joined by police and disaster management officials, as well as personnel from India's military and paramilitary forces, Mr Sharma said. Abdul Majeed Bichoo, a local resident and a social activist from a neighbouring village, said that he witnessed the bodies of eight people being pulled out from under the mud. Three horses, which were also completely buried alongside them under debris, were 'miraculously recovered alive', he said. The 75-year-old Bichoo said Chositi village had become a 'sight of complete devastation from all sides' following the disaster. Buildings damaged in flash floods caused by torrential rains are seen in a remote, mountainous village, in the Chositi area, India-controlled Kashmir (AP) 'It was heartbreaking and an unbearable sight. I have not seen this kind of destruction of life and property in my life,' he said. The devastating floods swept away the main community kitchen set up for the pilgrims as well as dozens of vehicles and motorbikes, officials said. They added that more than 200 pilgrims were in the kitchen when the tragedy struck. The flash floods also damaged and washed away many homes, clustered together in the foothills. Photos and videos circulating on social media showed extensive damage caused in the village with multiple vehicles and homes damaged. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that 'the situation is being monitored closely' and offered his prayers to 'all those affected by the cloudburst and flooding'. 'Rescue and relief operations are underway. Every possible assistance will be provided to those in need,' he said in a social media post. Sudden, intense downpours over small areas known as cloudbursts are increasingly common in India's Himalayan regions, which are prone to flash floods and landslides. Cloudbursts have the potential to wreak havoc by causing intense flooding and landslides, impacting thousands of people in the mountainous regions. Experts say cloudbursts have increased in recent years partly because of climate change, while damage from the storms also has increased because of unplanned development in mountain regions. Kishtwar is home to multiple hydroelectric power projects, which experts have long warned pose a threat to the region's fragile ecosystem.
BreakingNews.ie
a day ago
- BreakingNews.ie
At least 44 dead in flash floods on popular Himalayan pilgrimage route
Flash floods caused by torrential rains in a remote village in India-controlled Kashmir have left at least 44 people dead and dozens missing, authorities said. Rescue teams scouring the devastated Himalayan village brought at least 200 people to safety. Advertisement Following a cloudburst in the region's Chositi village, which triggered floods and landslides, disaster management official Mohammed Irshad estimated that at least 50 people were still missing, with many believed to have been washed away. A building damaged in flash floods caused by torrential rains is seen in a remote, mountainous village in the Chositi area, India-controlled Kashmir (AP) India's deputy minister for science and technology, Jitendra Singh, warned that the disaster 'could result in substantial' loss of life. At least 50 of the rescued people, many of whom were brought from a stream under mud and debris, were seriously injured and were being treated in local hospitals, said Susheel Kumar Sharma, a local official. Chositi is a remote Himalayan village in Kashmir's Kishtwar district and is the last village accessible to motor vehicles on the route of an ongoing annual Hindu pilgrimage to a mountainous shrine at an altitude of 3,000 metres (9,500 feet) and about an eight-kilometre (5-mile) trek from the village. Advertisement Multiple pilgrims were also feared to be affected by the disaster. Officials said that the pilgrimage had been suspended and more rescue teams were on the way to the area to strengthen rescue and relief operations. The pilgrimage began on July 25 and was scheduled to end on September 5. The first responders to the disaster were villagers and local officials who were later joined by police and disaster management officials, as well as personnel from India's military and paramilitary forces, Mr Sharma said. Advertisement Abdul Majeed Bichoo, a local resident and a social activist from a neighbouring village, said that he witnessed the bodies of eight people being pulled out from under the mud. Three horses, which were also completely buried alongside them under debris, were 'miraculously recovered alive', he said. The 75-year-old Bichoo said Chositi village had become a 'sight of complete devastation from all sides' following the disaster. Buildings damaged in flash floods caused by torrential rains are seen in a remote, mountainous village, in the Chositi area, India-controlled Kashmir (AP) 'It was heartbreaking and an unbearable sight. I have not seen this kind of destruction of life and property in my life,' he said. Advertisement The devastating floods swept away the main community kitchen set up for the pilgrims as well as dozens of vehicles and motorbikes, officials said. They added that more than 200 pilgrims were in the kitchen when the tragedy struck. The flash floods also damaged and washed away many homes, clustered together in the foothills. Photos and videos circulating on social media showed extensive damage caused in the village with multiple vehicles and homes damaged. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that 'the situation is being monitored closely' and offered his prayers to 'all those affected by the cloudburst and flooding'. Advertisement 'Rescue and relief operations are underway. Every possible assistance will be provided to those in need,' he said in a social media post. Sudden, intense downpours over small areas known as cloudbursts are increasingly common in India's Himalayan regions, which are prone to flash floods and landslides. Cloudbursts have the potential to wreak havoc by causing intense flooding and landslides, impacting thousands of people in the mountainous regions. Experts say cloudbursts have increased in recent years partly because of climate change, while damage from the storms also has increased because of unplanned development in mountain regions. Kishtwar is home to multiple hydroelectric power projects, which experts have long warned pose a threat to the region's fragile ecosystem.
