11 hours ago
How often do plane crashes have sole survivors?
Sole survivors
A 40-year-old British man, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, was the sole survivor of the crash of an Air India jet shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad en route to Gatwick. A surprising number of aircraft disasters have had a sole survivor – at least five others where more than 100 were killed.
— On 16 August 1987 a four-year-old girl, Cecilia Cichan, survived the crash of North West Airlines flight 255 shortly after takeoff from Detroit; it killed 156. The plane's wing flaps had not been extended (a suggested cause of the Air India disaster).
— On 6 March 2003, a 28-year-old soldier, Youcef Djillali, survived the crash of Air Algerie flight 6289 shortly after takeoff from Tamanrasset; 102 died.
— On 8 July 2003 two-year-old Mohammed el Fateh survived the crash of Sudan Airways flight 139, after the Boeing 737 crash-landed while returning to Port Sudan after an engine failure.
— On 30 June 2009, 12-year-old Bahia Bakari was the only one of 152 passengers and crew to survive the plunge of Yemenia flight 626 in the Indian Ocean – she was found clinging to wreckage hours later.
— On 12 May 2010, nine-year-old Ruben van Assouw survived the crash of Afriqiyah Airways flight 771 on approach to Tripoli – the only one of 103 passengers and crew.
Cheat sheet
How much benefit fraud and error is there – officially?
In 2024/25 £9.5bn (3.3% of the overall benefits bill) was lost to fraud. This was down on the £9.7bn (3.6%) lost in 2023/24. Losses peaked at 4% in 2021/22. However, in the 13 years to 2019 losses never exceeded 2.2%. In 2024/25, £6.5bn (2.2%) was put down to fraud, £1.9bn (0.7%) to claimant error and £1bn (0.4%) down to official error.
What a blast
If Iran were to succeed in gaining a nuclear weapon, it would become the 10th country currently known to possess one. The others are the US, Russia, China, Britain, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel (although the latter does not acknowledge its possession of nuclear weapons).
— Three other modern-day countries once had nuclear weapons stationed on their soil: Ukraine, Kazakhstan and South Africa.
— South Africa is the only country which once possessed nuclear weapons in its own right and voluntarily relinquished them (the other two gained nuclear status as part of the Soviet Union). Its decision to abandon nuclear weapons in the late 1980s means there are currently no land-based nukes in the southern hemisphere.
