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Time of India
a day ago
- General
- Time of India
Brothers seated across the aisle — only one walks out alive from Air India 171 crash
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Seat 11A became a lifeline for Viswashkumar Ramesh . Just across the aisle in 11J sat his brother, Ajaykumar Ramesh. Within 30 seconds of takeoff, fate tore the two apart, reported Thursday afternoon, AI Flight 171 — bound for London — crashed moments after departing Ahmedabad. Viswashkumar, a British citizen, stumbled out of the burning wreckage. He is the only confirmed survivor. He now lies in bed 11 of ward B7 at Ahmedabad civil hospital . His brother Ajaykumar is feared to be among the 265 who lost their lives.'There was a loud noise,' Viswashkumar told his cousin Dhirendra Somabhai from his hospital bed. 'The plane hung mid-air. Then came the pilot's voice: 'Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!''Dhirendra told TOI Viswashkumar remembers only jumping through a door. 'Nothing more.'Video footage shows him staggering through debris, bloodied and in shock, crying out: 'Plane fatyo che! Plane fatyo che!' (The plane exploded). Locals and rescue workers rushed to pull him into an ambulance. At the hospital, he wept and kept repeating: 'Where is my brother? Leave me alone. I don't want to talk. Can anyone tell me where he is?'Officials sealed off his ward around 2:30 pm after confirming his identity. Gujarat ATS and Ahmedabad crime branch officers have since restricted brothers had lived in London for 15 years, jointly running a garment business in the UK and a fishing venture in Diu . They were among 15 residents from Diu's Bucharwada and Vanakbara villages on the friend Ayub Mansuri, who dropped them at the airport Thursday morning, said Viswashkumar's father in London was the first to call him with the news. 'I managed to speak to Viswash three times after the crash, but then his phone died,' he told the news outlet. 'I hired an auto and made my way past roadblocks to reach the hospital. He had head injuries and bruises.'Dhirendra recalled a brief conversation the night before. 'We were all in Patelwadi. Viswash looked at me and said, 'I don't know when we'll meet next.''Diu additional district magistrate Vivek Kumar confirmed that all 15 passengers from the region have been identified. 'Only one survived. A team from the Diu administration has left for Ahmedabad,' he told TOI.
India Today
24-04-2025
- India Today
Salty rogan josh, horse delay helped 39 cheat death in Pahalgam
The toll in the Pahalgam terror attack could have been higher had luck not played a part and kept 41 people away from the Baisaran meadow, which turned into a killing field on April 22. While a salty mutton rogan josh kept away a family of 11 from the spot, lack of horses delayed 28 tourists from reaching there. A couple who moved away with their bhelpuri snack also thanked their group of terrorists targeted tourists and killed 26 people in Pahalgam, South Kashmir. They singled out Hindus and shot them at close range. A pony ride provider, who tried to snatch the weapon of one of the attackers, was also killed.'MY HUSBAND FORCED TO HAVE LUNCH JUST MINUTES BEFORE REACHING BAISARAN'A plate of salty mutton rogan josh turned out to be a saviour for an 11-member Kerala family on their trip to Pahalgam, helping them to cheat death. The family from Kochi arrived in Kashmir on April 19 and explored the beauty of Gulmarg and Sonmarg for the next two days. On Tuesday, the family that skipped lunch on the two previous days, decided to have food just 15 minutes before reaching Baisaran meadow."On Tuesday we were heading to Pahalgam, located about 80km from Srinagar," Lavanya, one of the family members, recounted while talking to The Times of started a bit late that morning (Tuesday). Since we had skipped lunch the previous two days due to a hectic schedule, my husband insisted we eat before going to Baisaran, just 15 minutes away," she family halted at a roadside eatery, but the excessively salty rogan josh meal left them uneasy. On seeing that they were unable to have the food, the staff at the eatery offered to cook afresh, prompting them to reorder, which delayed them by an resuming their journey to Baisaran, the family witnessed chaos just 2km short of their destination."Horses were galloping back, taxis were rushing down, and people were shouting – but we could not understand the local dialect," Lavanya told being asked, the family was told that there had been some chaos, and security forces were on the driver, a local, asked them to continue, suggesting such things were normal there. But sensing trouble, the family opted to turn the 11 members spent some time by a lake in the valley, at 4.30 pm, they were urged to leave by shopkeepers due to some brewing tension. They headed to their resort, and soon received calls revealing a major terror assault had occurred in the Baisaran the family think that it was good fortune and a right decision that saved them from sure DELAY TURNS INTO LIFESAVER FOR 28 TOURISTS FROM MAHARASHTRAA similar story of chance was shared by a group of 28 people from Maharashtra. In their case, it was the unavailability of horses that saved tourists from Kolhapur, Sangli, Ratnagiri, and Pune were kept off from Baisaran meadow because horses were unavailable for their spot doesn't have a motorable road, and people can reach there only by trekking or on spending some time bargaining with horse owners, the group was forced to delay their trip to Baisaran and wait for horses to arrive. The delay turned into a lifesaver."We were saved just because we didn't get the horse ride on time," Surendra Dattatreya Sapale from Gargoti village in Kolhapur told India Today TV."If we hadn't been delayed, we would have been caught in the firing," a tourist from the group told The Times of quickly turned back after their driver warned them of the danger ahead."The horse owners had initially demanded Rs 3,200 per head. We spent 15 minutes bargaining for horses and another 15 gathering them. Just 500 metres into the ride, our driver ran up shouting, 'There's firing ahead-don't go!," Anil Kurane, a member of the group, was quoted as saying by IN A QUIET CORNER SAVED JAIPUR NEWLYWEDS LIVESIt was the craving for a plate of bhelpuri in solitude that saved Mihir and Komal Soni, a couple from Jaipur, according to a report in The Indian newlyweds had just arrived at Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam and decided to pause for the snack. They got their hands on some bhelpuri and moved into a quieter corner of the meadow."Everything was so serene. We bought bhelpuri and were sitting in a quiet corner, soaking in the view when suddenly, we heard gunshots. People started screaming and running," Mihir told The Indian snack break delayed their walk into the open, just enough to save them from the hail of bullets that killed 26 people around them. Komal recalled that Navy officer Lieutenant Vinay Narwal and his wife arrived in the meadows around the same time and bought bhelpuri from the same vendor before walked right past us... We later heard that the officer was killed," Komal told the newspaper,"We were just 10 steps away from the exit of the meadow. We hired a pony, paid Rs 4,000 and got out of there as fast as we could on the way to Pahalgam market, there were no security personnel, there was no one to help us," Komal chance and quick decisions might have saved many more people from the bullets of terrorists in Pahalgam. In this, salty mutton rogan josh, delay in horse ride and some solitary bhelpuri played a InMust Watch
