Latest news with #Diu
The Guardian
3 hours ago
- General
- The Guardian
Sole India plane crash survivor mourns his brother during funeral
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the sole survivor of the Air India crash, helped carry his brother's flower-heaped coffin to a crematorium in the western Indian coastal town of Diu, days after they plummeted into the ground shortly after takeoff. All 241 other passengers and crew onboard the flight died, as did at least 30 people on the ground, including five medical students
The Guardian
6 hours ago
- General
- The Guardian
Air India crash survivor attends brother's funeral as investigators examine plane's emergency systems
The sole survivor of the catastrophic Air India crash has helped carry his brother's flower-heaped coffin to a crematorium in the western Indian coastal town of Diu, days after they plummeted into the ground moments after takeoff. With bandages still on his face and arm, the 40-year-old businessman based in Leicester – who had been released from hospital on Tuesday – broke into sobs and was consoled by relatives. Just six days earlier, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh had been sitting with his brother, Ajay, on the London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner that slammed into a medical college hostel in Ahmedabad after taking off. All 241 other passengers and crew aboard the flight last Thursday died, as did at least 30 people on the ground, including five medical students. Vishwash Kumar and his brother, who was sitting a few rows away, had been heading back to the UK after holidaying with their family in India. Vishwash Kumar escaped through a small space by his seat and stumbled through the flames and smoke into the arms of rescuers. The streets were filled with mourners as he walked with his brother's coffin on his shoulder, his mother beside him in a monsoon-rain-drenched blue sari. More than a dozen of the crash victims were from Diu, a beach town on the Arabian Sea once ruled by the Portuguese. The funeral was held as The Wall Street Journal reported that investigators examining last week's deadly crash of Air India Flight 171 believe the aircraft's emergency power system – known as a ram air turbine (RAT) – was deployed during takeoff. Establishing the definitive cause of the crash could take years. But the preliminary finding prompts new questions about whether the plane's engines functioned properly in the crucial moments after takeoff. Flight data from Flightradar24 showed that the Dreamliner climbed to 625 feet. Moments before the plane crashed, the pilot made a distress call: 'Thrust not achieved … falling … Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!' A CCTV video clip showed the plane beginning to descend around 17 seconds after takeoff. The RAT is a small propeller that drops from the underside of the Dreamliner's fuselage to provide emergency electricity. While the engines usually supply power for electrical and flight-control systems, the RAT is designed to step in when normal systems fail. It is considered a last resort in aviation emergencies. 'The most common occurrence is when a pilot thinks that both engines failed,' Anthony Brickhouse, a US-based aerospace safety consultant, told the WSJ. He noted that in commercial aviation, 'a dual engine failure is extremely rare … Our engines today are more efficient and reliable than ever'. Though widely praised for its fuel efficiency and long range, the 787 Dreamliner has been dogged by quality control issues. Last week's crash was the first fatal incident involving a 787, but its fallout could be far-reaching. Boeing, which manufactures the aircraft, and GE Aerospace, which makes the engines, declined to comment, the newspaper said. Findings from the wreckage suggest the flaps and other control surfaces were correctly configured for takeoff, indicating the flight crew followed standard procedures, the WSJ said, citing investigators. The report comes a day after India's aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), said its own inspections found no 'major safety concerns' in the Dreamliner fleet but did flag recurring maintenance issues. Air India's chair, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, told the Times Now Indian news channel on Wednesday that the aircraft had nothing of concern in its maintenance history. He said the right engine was installed in March, and the left engine was serviced in 2023. Chandrasekaran added he expected preliminary findings to be out in 30 days. 'Everybody needs closure,' he said. 'We need to know.' So far, DNA tests have identified 190 of the badly burned victims, and the bodies of 19 have been handed to their families, the Press Trust of India reported. Forensic teams are working around the clock to identify the victims. As of Wednesday, at least 13 Dreamliner flights were grounded and the DGCA confirmed that a total of 66 Boeing 787 flights had been cancelled since the crash. Air India officials cited 'technical issues' and 'extended precautionary checks' as the reasons for the cancelled flights. The schedule disruptions are the latest blow to the Tata Group-owned airline's ambitious overhaul of the former state-owned carrier, and the timing could not be worse, with summer travel demand surging.
BBC News
11 hours ago
- General
- BBC News
Air India: Lone survivor lays brother to rest at emotional funeral
The British man who was the sole survivor of last week's Air India plane crash has helped lay his brother to rest at a funeral in western Ramesh's brother Ajay was also on the ill-fated flight but did not survive the tragedy.A visibly upset Ramesh was one of the pall bearers who carried his brother's coffin to the crematorium in the town of Diu, his arm and face still covered in white bandages. He's spent most of the past five days in London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed seconds after taking off on Thursday from the western Indian city of Ahmedabad. At least 270 people were killed, most of them passengers. Mr Ramesh's mother walked with the coffin in a blue sari along with other mourners, as he held it on his right people from the town - which lost 14 other people to the crash - came out for the funeral even as the rain lashed the one is clear how Mr Ramesh managed to survive. He even tried to go back to the blazing plane to search for his brother, one of the first responders at the scene told the BBC. In a new video that emerged earlier this week, ambulance driver Satinder Singh Sandhu is the man seen guiding Mr Ramesh to safety as he walks out of the crash site with flames and thick smoke billowing into the air behind him. Mr Sandhu, a supervisor with the emergency ambulance services in Ahmedabad, says he had no idea who he was helping, or that Mr Ramesh had escaped from the plane. He only found out later that day on the news that the man was the sole survivor of the crash. Vishwashkumar Ramesh, 40, was in seat 11A on the flight. His brother is reported to have been sitting a few seats other passengers and crew were killed and nearly 30 people also died on the ground after the plane hurtled down and crashed into a doctor's hostel. But Mr Ramesh miraculously survived, managing to get out of the wreckage through an opening in the new video shows Mr Sandhu, who's wearing a blue turban, walk up to Mr Ramesh and guide him to Sandhu said he was having lunch with his colleagues when he first noticed a "massive fire with thick smoke rising into the sky"."At first, we thought it might be a car accident or a gas cylinder blast. Soon, we learned it was a plane crash. I immediately instructed my team to bring an ambulance, and rushed to the site." Speaking to BBC Gujarati, Mr Sandhu said that he was just trying to do his job. In his decades-long career, he said he had encountered many challenging what surprised him that day was how Mr Ramesh, after being rescued, kept trying to go back to the site of the crash."He had no idea what he was doing. He kept going in and out of the complex. We told him to stop, and dragged him away to an ambulance so that he could receive medical care," Mr Sandhu said."That's when he said to me that his relative was trapped inside and he wanted to go save him. We did not speak a word after that."Mr Ramesh later told India's DD News that he was trying to go look for Ajay. At the scene, Mr Sandhu spotted a security guard who seemed to have been injured in the impact. His clothes were partially burnt and Mr Sandhu first helped him."I also saw a woman. She was screaming in horror. Her son who ran a tea stall had been killed in the crash."Moments later he saw Mr Ramesh emerge from the crash site in a white had injuries on his face and burns on his arms and looked visibly upset, Mr Sandhu said."At that point, we had no idea who the injured man was. I thought he was one of the doctors who lived in the college. Later, when we saw the news, we realised he was the lone survivor of the crash."Chirag, a member of Mr Sandhu's ambulance team, told PTI news agency that Mr Ramesh was telling someone on a video call that his relatives were at the crash first responders treated him for his injuries and rushed him to the trauma centre of a hospital his interview with DD News, Mr Ramesh had said he could not believe that he came out of the wreckage alive."For a moment, I felt like I was going to die too, but when I opened my eyes and looked around, I realised I was alive."I still can't believe how I survived. I walked out of the rubble."The cause of the crash is not yet known. Officials are trying to decode the cockpit voice and flight data recorders - collectively known as the black box - recovered from the wreckage to piece together what reporting by Zoya Mateen in DelhiFollow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
Khaleej Times
11 hours ago
- General
- Khaleej Times
Video: Air India plane crash's lone survivor breaks down at brother's funeral
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the only known survivor of the horrific Air India plane crash on June 12, was travelling from Ahmedabad with his brother Ajay Kumar Ramesh. While Vishwash, who was seated near an emergency exit of the London-bound flight, managed to jump out, his brother was among the 241 passengers that did not survive. Ajay's funeral was held today in Diu, an Indian union territory. Heart-rending videos on social media show Ramesh at the funeral, carrying his brother's remains on his shoulders to the cremation ground. Vishwash is a British national — a native of Diu who is settled in the UK. The brothers had flown down to India to visit their family in Diu. Vishwash, who had sustained burn wounds from the crash, was discharged from the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital late on Tuesday night, and is still recovering from injuries, as seen in the funeral videos. #WATCH | Diu | Lone survivor of AI-171 flight crash, Vishwas Ramesh Kumar, mourns the death of his brother Ajay Ramesh, who was travelling on the same flight Vishwas Ramesh Kumar is a native of Diu and is settled in the UK. — ANI (@ANI) June 18, 2025 'Can't believe how I survived' Speaking from his hospital bed, the 40-year-old had told Indian media that he was travelling to Britain with his brother after visiting family in India. "When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me. Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital," Viswashkumar told the Hindustan Times. Stay up to date with the latest news. Follow KT on WhatsApp Channels. "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 on Friday, speaking in Hindi to national broadcaster DD News. "Within a minute after takeoff, suddenly... it felt like something got stuck... I realised something had happened, and then suddenly the plane's green and white lights turned on," Ramesh said. "After that, the plane seemed to speed up, heading straight towards what turned out to be a hostel of a hospital. Everything was visible in front of my eyes when the crash happened." Ramesh, aged 40, is from the British city of Leicester, according to Britain's Press Association news agency, which spoke with his family at home. "Initially, I too thought that I was about to die, but then I opened my eyes and realised that I was still alive," he said. "I saw the air hostess and aunties and uncles all in front of me," he said, his voice trailing off in emotion, using a term of respect used in India for older people. "I unfastened my seatbelt and tried to escape, and I did," he said. "I think the side I was on was not facing the hostel," he added. "Where I landed was closer to the ground and there was space too – and when my door broke -- I saw that there was space, and I thought I could try to slip out." "My left hand got slightly burnt due to the fire, but an ambulance brought me to the hospital," he said. "The people here are taking good care of me." Seat 11A of the aircraft Social media footage shown on Indian news channels showed Ramesh in a bloodstained white t-shirt and dark pants limping on a street and being helped by a medic. A photo of his boarding pass shown online by the Hindustan Times showed that he was seated in seat 11A of the plane bound for Gatwick Airport. His brother Ajay had been seated in a different row on the plane and asked for help to find him. "He was near the emergency exit and managed to escape by jumping out the emergency door," said Vidhi Chaudhary, a senior police officer in Ahmedabad. On June 12, the Air India aircraft came down in a residential area, crashing onto a medical college hostel outside the airport during lunch hour, in the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade. More than 290 people were killed in the crash. The dead included some on the ground.
Sky News
6 days ago
- General
- Sky News
British national survives plane crash, Indian media reports
A British national has survived the Air India plane crash, according to Indian media. Speaking to the Hindustan Times newspaper, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh said he heard a "loud noise" around 30 seconds after take-off before the plane went down. "It all happened so quickly," he said, adding he had received "impact injuries" on his chest, eyes and feet. "When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me. "Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital." Footage shared on social media showed a man that appears to be Vishwash limping away from the crash site and being led towards emergency services. He told Indian media he had lived in London for 20 years. He said that his brother Ajay was seated in a different row on the plane. "We visited Diu. He was travelling with me and I can't find him anymore. Please help me find him." Separately, footage shared on social media showed a man limping away from the crash site and being led towards emergency services. Please refresh the page for the latest version.
