Latest news with #AirIndiaCrash
Malay Mail
an hour ago
- General
- Malay Mail
Joy and grief for lone Air India crash survivor as miracle escape contrasts with loss of brother
LEICESTER, June 14 — The UK-based family of the lone survivor of the Air India crash were torn yesterday between joy at his miracle escape and grief at the loss of his brother. 'We are happy Vishwash has been saved, but on the other hand, we are just heartbroken about Ajay,' his cousin told AFP outside the family home in central Leicester. Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, is believed to be the only person to have survived the crash when Air India Flight 171 plummeted from the sky shortly after taking off from the northern Indian city of Ahmedabad. His brother, Ajay Kumar Ramesh, was on the same flight, but is believed to have perished in the disaster. There were 242 passengers and crew on the plane, including 53 British citizens. At least 24 people were killed on the ground, officials said, after the aeroplane landed on a canteen building where students were having lunch. Members of local community stand outside family home of Ramesh Viswashkumar, a British survivor of the London-bound Air India aircraft crash near Ahmedabad Airport in India, in Leicester June 12, 2025. — Reuters pic Since Thursday's tragedy, the small Leicester street where Ramesh's parents and younger brother lived has been flooded with visitors. Ramesh lives not far away with his wife and son, his cousin Hiren Kantilal, 19, told AFP. Ajay also lived in the town, one of the oldest in England, and the two brothers ran a confectionary business together. 'They are wonderful people, and heartful people. They are greatest men I have ever seen in my life, both of them,' said Kantilal. The brothers were returning to the UK after spending a few weeks on holiday in India, and the family had been waiting to go and pick them up at Gatwick airport. Hiren Kantilal, cousin of Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, gives an interview to an AFP journalist in the street outside the family home of Vishwash, the sole survivor of an Air India crash in Ahmedabad City in India, in Leicester June 13, 2025. — AFP pic 'I am totally fine' Shortly after the crash, they were shocked when Ramesh, who had reportedly been in seat 11A, called his father to say he was alive. Ajay was seated at the other end of the row. 'Our plane has been crashed,' Ramesh told his dad, according to his cousin. 'He was bleeding all over him, in the face and everything, and he said: 'I am just waiting for my brother and I don't know how I get out of the plane'. 'He said: 'do not worry about me, try to find about Ajay Kumar' and he said: 'I am totally fine'.' Kantilal said his cousin had waited for about 10 to 15 minutes seeking his brother, and then was whisked away to hospital by the rescue services. Images which went viral on social media apparently showed Ramesh walking away from the wreckage of the 787-8 Boeing Dreamliner, and have been splashed across the front pages of British media along with a photo of him in his hospital bed. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a visit to Ramesh yesterday at the hospital where he is being treated for burns and other injuries, footage on his YouTube channel showed. 'Everything happened in front of me, and even I couldn't believe how I managed to come out alive from that,' Ramesh said from his hospital bed, speaking in Hindi to national broadcaster DD News. His parents had also been desperately trying to contact his brother Ajay on Thursday. 'The call was going through, but no-one was answering the call,' Kantilal said. At the family home, relatives were frantically scanning their phones to try to buy a flight to Ahmedabad later yesterday afternoon. Downing Street said that the foreign ministry had been in touch with Ramesh to offer him consular assistance. — AFP
Times of Oman
an hour ago
- Politics
- Times of Oman
EAM Jaishankar in touch with UK, Portugal, Canada foreign ministers over Ahmedabad plane crash
New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that he is in touch with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel, and Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand regarding the Air India Flight AI171 crash in Ahmedabad on Thursday. Further, Jaishankar offered profound condolences to the families and offered full support in this hour of grief. "In touch with FS @DavidLammy of the UK, FM @PauloRangel_pt of Portugal and FM @AnitaAnandMP of Canada regarding the Ahmedabad plane crash. Expressed our profound condolences and offered fullest support in this hour of grief," Jaishankar wrote on X. The Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick with 242 passengers crashed in Meghaninagar area at 1:39 pm (IST) shortly after it took off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. 241 people were killed in the crash. As per Air India, the passengers comprised 169 Indians, 53 British nationals, one Canadian and seven Portuguese nationals. World leaders also poured their condolences over the incident, including UK PM Keir Starmer, US President Donald Trump, Japanese PM Shigeru Ishiba, Portuguese PM Luis Montenegro and the Canadian PM Mark Carney. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a review meeting with the officials at the airport in Ahmedabad. He also visited the Air India plane crash site in Ahmedabad and reviewed the ground situation. After the incident, PM Modi also spoke to Union Civil Aviation Minister Rammohan Naidu and Home Minister Amit Shah and took stock of the crash incident. The Civil Aviation Minister informed the Prime Minister that he is rushing to Ahmedabad to oversee rescue and relief operations on the ground, said the Civil Aviation Ministry. The Prime Minister has directed the Minister to ensure all necessary support is extended immediately and asked to be kept regularly updated on the situation, they said. "On 12th Jun, 2025, Air India B787 Aircraft VT-ANB, while operating flight AI-171 from Ahmedabad to Gatwick, has crashed immediately after takeoff from Ahmedabad. There were 242 people on board the aircraft, consisting of 2 pilots and 10 cabin crew," said a senior DGCA official. The aircraft was under the command of Capt Sumeet Sabharwal with First Officer Clive Kundar. Capt Sumeet Sabharwal is an LTC with 8200 hours of experience. The copilot had 1100 hours of flying experience, the official further added. As per ATC, the aircraft departed from Ahmedabad at 1339 IST (0809 UTC) from runway 23. It gave a mayday Call to ATC, but thereafter, no response was given by the aircraft to the calls made by ATC. Aircraft immediately after departure from Runway 23, fell on the ground outside the airport perimeter. Heavy black smoke was seen emanating from the accident site, said the official
SBS Australia
5 hours ago
- General
- SBS Australia
'I thought I was going to die': Air India crash survivor recounts escape as black box recovered
The sole survivor of the Air India plane crash that killed more than 240 people says he hardly believed he was alive, as he recounted seeing others dying near him as he escaped out of a broken emergency exit. Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who police said was in seat 11A near the emergency exit and managed to squeeze through the broken hatch, was filmed after Thursday's crash limping on the street in a blood-stained T-shirt with bruises on his face. That social media footage of Ramesh, a British national of Indian origin, has been broadcast across India's news channels since the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner erupted in a ball of fire after it plummeted onto a medical college hostel moments after taking off from Ahmedabad. It was the worst aviation disaster in a decade and his escape is being hailed as the "miracle of seat 11A". "I don't believe how I survived. For some time I thought I was also going to die," the 40-year-old told Indian state broadcaster DD News from his hospital bed on Friday local time. "But when I opened my eyes, I realised I was alive and I tried to unbuckle myself from the seat and escape from where I could. It was in front of my eyes that the air hostess and others (died)." He was travelling with his brother Ajay, who had been seated in a different row, members of his family have said. "The side of the plane I was in landed on the ground, and I could see that there was space outside the aircraft, so when my door broke I tried to escape through it and I did," Ramesh said. "The opposite side of the aircraft was blocked by the building wall so nobody could have come out of there." Ramesh suffered burns and bruises and has been kept under observation, an official at the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad said. Police said some people at the hostel and others on the ground were also killed in the crash. Ramesh said the plane seemed to come to a standstill in midair for a few seconds shortly after take-off and the green and white cabin lights were turned on. He said he could feel the engine thrust increasing, but then the plane "crashed with speed into the hostel". Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived in his home state of Gujarat to visit the crash site, met Ramesh in hospital on Friday. India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said on Friday it has recovered the digital flight data recorder, or the black box, of an Air India plane that crashed in Ahmedabad from a rooftop near the crash site. It said the bureau has begun its work with "full force". The black box recovery marks an important step forward in the investigation, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said in a social media post. Separately, the country's civil aviation regulator issued an order directing Air India to do additional maintenance and enhanced safety inspections of its Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 Dreamliners equipped with General Electric's GEnx engines. The key inspections include fuel parameters, cabin air compressor, engine control system, hydraulic system and a review of take-off parameters, according to the order.
The Independent
6 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Air India crash: King orders black armbands for Trooping the Colour as victims remembered
The King will lead the nation in remembering those killed in the Air India plane crash when a minute's silence is observed during Trooping the Colour. Charles has requested the moment of reflection in tribute to the 241 passengers and crew killed, and others affected, when a Boeing 787 Dreamliner bound for Gatwick Airport came down on Thursday in the Indian city of Ahmedabad. Black armbands will also be worn by the head of state and senior royals riding in the ceremony on Saturday, also known as the King's Birthday Parade, a spectacle of military pomp and pageantry on Horse Guards Parade. On horseback and wearing the armbands will be the Prince of Wales, Colonel of the Welsh Guards, the Princess Royal, Colonel Blues and Royals, and the Duke of Edinburgh, Colonel Scots Guards. The Queen, the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Edinburgh are expected to be among the royal party watching the event and royal fans will hope Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis will join them as they did last year. Members of the royal family not taking part in the parade and who normally watch events from the Duke of Wellington's former office will not wear black armbands. A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said the King requested amendments to the Trooping the Colour programme 'as a mark of respect for the lives lost, the families in mourning and all the communities affected by this awful tragedy'. In 2017 Trooping was held a few days days after the Grenfell Tower blaze and the loss of life was marked by a minute's silence, a decision taken by Queen Elizabeth II. The King issued a written message soon after the India plane crash saying he was 'desperately shocked by the terrible events' and expressing his 'deepest possible sympathy'. He was kept updated about the developing situation on Thursday and it later emerged there was a sole survivor, UK national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh. The minute's silence will be observed after the King has inspected the guardsmen on the parade ground. It will be signalled by a bugler sounding the Last Post and will end with the Reveille. Black armbands will also be worn by senior officers taking part in Trooping, as well as coachmen and women from the Royal Mews, driving carriages carrying members of the royal family or riding a coach's lead horse as a postilion.
CBC
6 hours ago
- General
- CBC
Family rushes to India to formally identify Regina father killed in Air India crash
Social Sharing The family of a Saskatchewan man says he died in the crash of an Air India plane bound for London on Thursday. The crash in India's northwestern city of Ahmedabad killed at least 240 people. The plane hit a college hostel building shortly after takeoff. Only one passenger survived. Piyushkumar Patel, a permanent resident who lived in Regina with his wife and two small daughters, was in India visiting his parents since May and was heading to the U.K. to see a friend. Piyushkumar's sister, Ashini Patel, told CBC she and his other family members in Regina did not know he was on that particular flight until her parents in India confirmed hours after the crash, due to the difference in time zones. "I know that he was going to London and then I read the news," Patel said. "My mother just said he is on the flight, and your father and other people from our village are already there. That's how we know it." Patel spoke to CBC Saskatchewan from Vancouver, where she was scrambling to get Piyushkumar's wife, Ruchita Patel, an emergency passport, as hers had expired. Three adults and two children from the family boarded a plane from Vancouver to India on Friday afternoon, and hope to help officials formally identify Piyushkumar's body. Patel said the news will be devastating for Piyushkumar's daughters, one of whom will turn seven years old on Saturday. "It's a long journey to go to India, so we didn't tell her yet. She's too small to handle it," Patel said, adding that her relationship with her nieces is very close and maternal. Patel said her younger brother was an amazing father.
