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Hindustan Times
9 hours ago
- General
- Hindustan Times
‘Didn't look back': Lone survivor recounts his narrow escape
Ahmedabad: The sole survivor of the Air India plane crash said his escape was a combination of fortune and quick decision in identifying a crucial space amid the wreckage and acting on his reflexes. Speaking to HT a day after the aviation disaster, 38-year-old Viswash Kumar Ramesh, an Indian-origin British national said his seat, 11A, was close to an emergency door on the left side of the ill-fated plane, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. 'Everything was over in 30 seconds after the flight took off. I don't know how I survived. There were bodies and pieces of plane scattered everywhere. For a moment, I thought I was going to die. But I decided not to look back and keep going,' Ramesh, who is undergoing treatment in the trauma centre of Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, said on Friday. Sharing vivid details about his narrow escape, Ramesh said, 'Luckily, the portion of the plane where I was seated fell on the ground floor of the hostel premises after the plane crash landed. When I saw that the door of the plane was broken, I told myself 'I can try and get out'. Eventually, I got out of the plane.' 'I believe that others could not escape because there was a wall on that side (of the hostel) while there was a small gap where I was sitting. I still can't believe how I survived the crash because I saw people dying in front of my eyes,' Ramesh recounted. Ramesh suffered burns and bruises and has been kept under observation. 'He is not in a serious condition. He has few minor injuries in his eyes, chest, lips and his right leg. He has also got minor burns on his left hand,' said a medical official attending him. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, former civil aviation minister Praful Patel and Guajrat chief minister Bhupendrabhai Patel have met him in the last 24 hours.
Daily Record
9 hours ago
- General
- Daily Record
'Mystery object' flew off Air India plane seconds before crash
The object was caught in footage filmed just before plane crashed. Footage that emerged after Thursday's tragic plane crash in India appears to show an object flying from the aircraft just moments before it went down, killing 241 people on board. The video that was filmed in Ahmedabad, in the state of Gujarat, shows a dark object seemingly becoming detached from the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner before the plane crashes and explodes into flames. While it's not clear exactly what the object was, there has been speculation that it could be one of the plane's emergency doors - possibly the one next to which the only survivor of the crash, British man Viswash Kumar Ramesh, 40, was sitting. The exact cause of the crash hasn't been established yet and investigators are analysing the footage while looking for the debris at the site where the plane came down. The investigation is also understood to be focusing on the engine, flaps and landing gear, reports the Mirror. The plane's digital flight data recorder, or black box, has since been recovered from a rooftop near the crash site and India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said it had 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. The black box will reveal information about the engine and control settings, in addition to what the voice recorder will show about the cockpit conversations, Paul Fromme, a mechanical engineer with the UK-based Institution of Mechanical Engineers said in a statement. "This should show quickly if there was a loss of engine power or lift after take-off and allow a preliminary determination of the likely cause for the crash," said Fromme, who heads the professional association's Aerospace Division. The country's civil aviation regulator also ordered Air India to conduct additional inspections of its Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 Dreamliners equipped with General Electric's GEnx engines. That includes checks of the fuel parameters, cabin air compressor, engine control system, hydraulic system and take-off parameters, the order said. Investigators continued searching the site of the crash - one of India's worst aviation disasters - today, Friday, June 13, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with the lone surviving passenger in hospital. Sharing details of his experience before the crash, Vishwash, who was in seat 11A, explained the lights on the plane "started flickering" just seconds after the plane took off - and shortly after, it crashed. The Brit told the Hindustan Times: "When I saw the exit, I thought I could come out. I tried, and I did. Maybe the people who were on the other side of the plane weren't able to." He added: "I don't know how I survived. I saw people dying in front of my eyes – the air hostesses, and two people I saw near me … I walked out of the rubble." After Viswash was confirmed to be the only survivor, his family also said he had "no idea" how he managed to escape alive. While they were glad that he did, they were left heartbroken as his brother Ajay, who was also on the flight, didn't survive. Another brother of the pair, Nayan Kumar Ramesh, 27, spoke from outside the family home in Leicester and said: "We were just shocked as soon as we heard it. I last spoke to him yesterday morning. We're devastated, just devastated. He said I have no idea how I exited the plane." A relative, Jay, added that Viswash spoke to his dad following the crash. He said: "He's got some injuries on his face. He was painted in blood. He was pretty much covered in blood, that's what his dad said." He added: "He's doing well I think. It's a big shock. I don't have many words to describe the incident."
Daily Mail
11 hours ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Experts reveal all after Air India's sole survivor escaped
By A British man sitting in seat 11A survived the fatal Air India Flight 171 to the awes of the world as many said it was an un-survivable flight. Now, experts have discussed whether such 'miracle seats' that can survive a plane crash actually exist. When Viswash Kumar Ramesh, 40, emerged from the wreckage of the Air India flight alive on Thursday, the world declared it a miracle as the other 241 passengers tragically perished. 'I don't know how I came out of it alive', Ramesh, who was traveling with his brother from India to London , said from his hospital bed. His boarding pass, which he managed to take with him, showed he was sitting in seat 11A, which has since been dubbed the miracle seat following the gruesome crash of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Several factors, including his seat position, could have played into his miraculous survival, experts said. Ramesh was sitting in a window seat in the emergency exit row, meaning he had the easiest access to get off the plane the fastest. 'I do think it had something to do with it,' Ella Atkins, the head of the Crofton Aerospace and Ocean Engineering Department at Virginia Tech, told calling his survival an 'extraordinary miracle.' 'He happened to be ejected in a way that didn't kill him.' The 58-year-old Virginian, who has been an engineer since 1988, said one's placement inside an aircraft 'absolutely' matters when it comes to surviving a horrific crash, such as Ramesh did. However, it's nearly impossible for passengers to preselect a seat that's going to save them as a plane can crash in so many different ways, the aerospace engineer said. Unsurprisingly, for frontal impacts, it's safest to be in the back of the plane. For tail impacts, the front. For a fuselage problem, the middle is the most dangerous spot as that's where the fuel is located. If the plane nosedives into the ground, crashes while upside down or lands in the middle of the ocean, the likelihood of a 'miracle seat' saving you from death diminishes to near zero. Without having some magical foresight, passengers cannot predetermine the exact seat that has the highest potential of saving their lives. 'I'm not going out [of my way] to ask for 11A after this,' Atkin, a frequent flyer, said. 'If I had to choose a place not to sit, it'd be first class.' However, that doesn't stop the professor from snagging the upgrade every time Delta offers it to her because air travel continues to be exceptionally safe. The logic about economy being safer centers on the fact that most plane crashes are frontal impacts - with business and first class seats usually situated at the front of the cabin. 'Any aircraft can crash like any car can,' she told 'I don't think there's a miracle seat... Every accident is so unique.' For a December 2024 Jeju Air flight, a 737 plane that slammed into a concrete barrier and burst into flames, the 'miracle seats' happened to be crew spots at the back of the plane - quite far from the general location Ramesh's seat would have been on that flight. A 737 is a small plane with a single aisle with two rows, while a 787 has a dual aisle and three rows of seating. Some experts say this can make a difference in some crashes. In the instance of a water landing, you're more likely to find a miracle seat on a single aisle aircraft because their fuselages are slightly more rigid and less likely to tear apart on impact. One prime example is the 2009 'Miracle on the Hudson' crash, when an Airbus A320 crash landed on the Hudson River fully intact after a bird strike caued engine failure. All 78 aboard survived. However, the size of the aircraft doesn't matter when it comes to commercial flights, Atkin said, as they 'tend to be extremely safe' and are 'painstakingly designed and tested.' The chance of survival doesn't necessarily change based on the size for commercial planes. However, single-engine planes, like Cessnas, have a much higher crash rate. 'It's clear in this case that something went wrong,' Atkins said of the Air India flight. Atkins believes 'both engines failed for this to happen' and said that's an 'extremely rare' occurrence. She reminds nervous flyers to 'keep in mind all those flights' that land each and every day. University of Greenwich Professor, Ed Galea, agreed that Ramesh's location in the emergency exit more than likely had something to do with his survival. 'He's got the seat as close as you could possibly be to an emergency exit. You can't be any closer,' Galea told The Telegraph. 'It's right on his side and he's actually in the A seat, which is the window seat. You could reach up and touch the door, you're that close to it.' Another reason that could have factored into Ramesh's survival is the fact that his seat is located near the wing of the plane. The 'wing box' is the most fortified place on the aircraft. 'That's the strongest part of the aircraft because there's the most structure there,' Galea told the outlet. 'And I believe seat 11A is just at the front of that very strong part of the aircraft. That may have been a factor.' Also, sitting in the emergency exit rows carry the highest chance of survival during an life-threatening situation as passengers have the fastest exit. '[It] greatly increases the chance of survival when there is a fire,' University of York Professor John McDermid told The Telegraph. However, both professors also believe the main thing that saved Ramesh was simply luck. 'He also had a lot of good fortune,' Galea said. 'Because why did he survive and 11B sitting right next to him didn't, or 11C or 12A?' Ironically, an American Airlines employee told The Sun in December that row 11 was the worst to sit in for impatient travelers. Specifically, seats 11A and 11F were cited as horrible seats as it can make exiting the plane slower. 'If you're looking for a quick exit, avoid row 11 at all costs,' the unidentified flight attendant told the outlet. 'Being in the middle row, especially in a window seat, which tends to be either A or F, almost guarantees you'll be one of the last off the plane.' The flight attendant did not specify which aircrafts this involved, as seating charts vary by design. Another reason, seat 11A can be a bad spot to pick is do to some aircrafts, such as a Boeing 737 - which is not the same as the Air India flight - not having a window due to the air conditioning system being there, a Flight Radar expert told Unilad Tech . Ramesh is being treated at a hospital in the northwestern city of Ahmedabad, where he told doctors that immediately after the plane took off, it began descending and suddenly split in two. Dr. Dhaval Gameti, who examined Ramesh, told the Associated Press that he was disoriented with multiple injuries all over his body' but that he 'seems to be out of danger.' Speaking to Indian broadcaster Doordarshan, Ramesh recounted his horrific ordeal, and spoke of how he witnessed two air hostesses die 'in front of my eyes.' 'For a while, I thought I was about to die. But when I opened my eyes, I saw I was alive. And I opened my seatbelt and got out of there,' he said. His seat was placed right next to the emergency door, which he says came off when the plane hit the ground. 'The side where I was seated fell into the ground floor of the building,' Ramesh recounted. 'There was some space. When the door broke, I saw that space and I just jumped out.' 'The door must've broken on impact,' he said. 'There was a wall on the opposite side, but near me, it was open. I ran. I don't know how.' When the plane hit the ground yesterday, seat 11A, where Ramesh was sat, collapsed into the ground floor of the building, instead of the upper levels where the jet's main body was badly destroyed. Ramesh also described how just moments after take-off, it 'felt like the plane had got stuck.' He recalled how the pilots tried to raise the jet, but it 'went full speed and crashed into the building'. Ramesh explained how the plane quickly caught fire following the crash, and said he burned his arm. Astonishing footage taken near the crash site yesterday showed Ramesh with visible injuries hobbling away from the jet before he was rushed to hospital for treatment. Ramesh, whose brother was also on the flight and is presumed dead, described yesterday how he heard a 'a loud noise' before the plane crashed. '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.' The Indian government has launched an investigation into the fatal crash of the London-bound plane that came down in a residential area of Ahmedabad. Officials said most of the bodies were charred beyond recognition.
Daily Mail
13 hours ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Experts reveal if seat 11A is really a 'miracle' spot where you're likely to survive crash after Air India horror
A British man sitting in seat 11A survived the fatal Air India Flight 171 to the awes of the world as many said it was an un-survivable flight. Now, experts have discussed whether such 'miracle seats' that can survive a plane crash actually exist. When Viswash Kumar Ramesh, 40, emerged from the wreckage of the Air India flight alive on Thursday, the world declared it a miracle as the other 241 passengers tragically perished. 'I don't know how I came out of it alive', Ramesh, who was traveling with his brother from India to London, said from his hospital bed. His boarding pass, which he managed to take with him, showed he was sitting in seat 11A, which has since been dubbed the miracle seat following the gruesome crash of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Several factors, including his seat position, could have played into his miraculous survival, experts said. Ramesh was sitting in a window seat in the emergency exit row, meaning he had the easiest access to get off the plane the fastest. 'I do think it had something to do with it,' Ella Atkins, the head of the Crofton Aerospace and Ocean Engineering Department at Virginia Tech, told calling his survival an 'extraordinary miracle.' 'He happened to be ejected in a way that didn't kill him.' The 58-year-old Virginian, who has been an engineer since 1988, said one's placement inside an aircraft 'absolutely' matters when it comes to surviving a horrific crash, such as Ramesh did. However, it's nearly impossible for passengers to preselect a seat that's going to save them as a plane can crash in so many different ways, the aerospace engineer said. Unsurprisingly, for frontal impacts, it's safest to be in the back of the plane. For tail impacts, the front. For a fuselage problem, the middle is the most dangerous spot as that's where the fuel is located. If the plane nosedives into the ground, crashes while upside down or lands in the middle of the ocean, the likelihood of a 'miracle seat' saving you from death diminishes to near zero. Without having some magical foresight, passengers cannot predetermine the exact seat that has the highest potential of saving their lives. 'I'm not going out [of my way] to ask for 11A after this,' Atkin, a frequent flyer, said. 'If I had to choose a place not to sit, it'd be first class.' However, that doesn't stop the professor from snagging the upgrade every time Delta offers it to her because air travel continues to be exceptionally safe. The logic about economy being safer centers on the fact that most plane crashes are frontal impacts - with business and first class seats usually situated at the front of the cabin. 'Any aircraft can crash like any car can,' she told 'I don't think there's a miracle seat... Every accident is so unique.' For a December 2024 Jeju Air flight, a 737 plane that slammed into a concrete barrier and burst into flames, the 'miracle seats' happened to be crew spots at the back of the plane - quite far from the general location Ramesh's seat would have been on that flight. A 737 is a small plane with a single aisle with two rows, while a 787 has a dual aisle and three rows of seating. Some experts say this can make a difference in some crashes. In the instance of a water landing, you're more likely to find a miracle seat on a single aisle aircraft because their fuselages are slightly more rigid and less likely to tear apart on impact. One prime example is the 2009 'Miracle on the Hudson' crash, when an Airbus A320 crash landed on the Hudson River fully intact after a bird strike caued engine failure. All 78 aboard survived. However, the size of the aircraft doesn't matter when it comes to commercial flights, Atkin said, as they 'tend to be extremely safe' and are 'painstakingly designed and tested.' The chance of survival doesn't necessarily change based on the size for commercial planes. However, single-engine planes, like Cessnas, have a much higher crash rate. 'It's clear in this case that something went wrong,' Atkins said of the Air India flight. Atkins believes 'both engines failed for this to happen' and said that's an 'extremely rare' occurrence. She reminds nervous flyers to 'keep in mind all those flights' that land each and every day. University of Greenwich Professor, Ed Galea, agreed that Ramesh's location in the emergency exit more than likely had something to do with his survival. 'He's got the seat as close as you could possibly be to an emergency exit. You can't be any closer,' Galea told The Telegraph. 'It's right on his side and he's actually in the A seat, which is the window seat. You could reach up and touch the door, you're that close to it.' Ramesh was sitting in a window seat in the emergency exit row. 'He's got the seat as close as you could possibly be to an emergency exit. You can't be any closer,' University of Greenwich Professor, Ed Galea (pictured), said Another reason that could have factored into Ramesh's survival is the fact that his seat is located near the wing of the plane. The 'wing box' is the most fortified place on the aircraft. 'That's the strongest part of the aircraft because there's the most structure there,' Galea told the outlet. 'And I believe seat 11A is just at the front of that very strong part of the aircraft. That may have been a factor.' Also, sitting in the emergency exit rows carry the highest chance of survival during an life-threatening situation as passengers have the fastest exit. '[It] greatly increases the chance of survival when there is a fire,' University of York Professor John McDermid told The Telegraph. However, both professors also believe the main thing that saved Ramesh was simply luck. 'He also had a lot of good fortune,' Galea said. 'Because why did he survive and 11B sitting right next to him didn't, or 11C or 12A?' Ironically, an American Airlines employee told The Sun in December that row 11 was the worst to sit in for impatient travelers. Specifically, seats 11A and 11F were cited as horrible seats as it can make exiting the plane slower. 'If you're looking for a quick exit, avoid row 11 at all costs,' the unidentified flight attendant told the outlet. 'Being in the middle row, especially in a window seat, which tends to be either A or F, almost guarantees you'll be one of the last off the plane.' The flight attendant did not specify which aircrafts this involved, as seating charts vary by design. Another reason, seat 11A can be a bad spot to pick is do to some aircrafts, such as a Boeing 737 - which is not the same as the Air India flight - not having a window due to the air conditioning system being there, a Flight Radar expert told Unilad Tech. Ramesh is being treated at a hospital in the northwestern city of Ahmedabad, where he told doctors that immediately after the plane took off, it began descending and suddenly split in two. Dr. Dhaval Gameti, who examined Ramesh, told the Associated Press that he was disoriented with multiple injuries all over his body' but that he 'seems to be out of danger.' Speaking to Indian broadcaster Doordarshan, Ramesh recounted his horrific ordeal, and spoke of how he witnessed two air hostesses die 'in front of my eyes.' 'For a while, I thought I was about to die. But when I opened my eyes, I saw I was alive. And I opened my seatbelt and got out of there,' he said. His seat was placed right next to the emergency door, which he says came off when the plane hit the ground. 'The side where I was seated fell into the ground floor of the building,' Ramesh recounted. 'There was some space. When the door broke, I saw that space and I just jumped out.' 'The door must've broken on impact,' he said. 'There was a wall on the opposite side, but near me, it was open. I ran. I don't know how.' When the plane hit the ground yesterday, seat 11A, where Ramesh was sat, collapsed into the ground floor of the building, instead of the upper levels where the jet's main body was badly destroyed. Ramesh also described how just moments after take-off, it 'felt like the plane had got stuck.' He recalled how the pilots tried to raise the jet, but it 'went full speed and crashed into the building'. Ramesh explained how the plane quickly caught fire following the crash, and said he burned his arm. Astonishing footage taken near the crash site yesterday showed Ramesh with visible injuries hobbling away from the jet before he was rushed to hospital for treatment. Ramesh, whose brother was also on the flight and is presumed dead, described yesterday how he heard a 'a loud noise' before the plane crashed. '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.' The Indian government has launched an investigation into the fatal crash of the London-bound plane that came down in a residential area of Ahmedabad. Officials said most of the bodies were charred beyond recognition.
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Sole survivor of Air India plane crash was in seat 11A
The man who walked away from the Air India plane crash as the disaster's only survivor was sitting near an emergency exit on the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner as it took off from Ahmedabad, India, on its way to London on Thursday. His seat was 11A. The seat is on the left side of the aircraft when facing the cockpit. The man, 40-year-old British national Viswash Kumar Ramesh, said the plane crash-landed on the ground floor of a building where medical students lived. Ramesh said he opened his eyes, realizing he was alive, and unfastened his seat belt before forcing himself out of the aircraft — escaping with a burnt hand. "I could see there was space outside the aircraft, so when my door broke I tried to escape through a little space and I did," he said from his hospital bed. An infographic shows where Ramesh was seated. The image shows seat 11A was near the front of the plane, with some open space right in front of it. Ron Bartsch, chairman at the Sydney-based AvLaw Aviation Consulting, told the Reuters news agency that seat 11A "was obviously the safest seat" in this particular instance because Ramesh was sitting adjacent to the emergency exit. "But it's not always 11A, it's just 11A on this configuration of the Boeing 787," Bartsch said. Seat configurations vary depending on the aircraft, and many factors are at play when it comes to crash survival. "Each accident is different, and it is impossible to predict survivability based on seat location," said Mitchell Fox, a director at the U.S.-based nonprofit Flight Safety Foundation, according to Reuters. Ramesh was in shock as he walked away from the crash. He was later taken to a hospital in an ambulance. Dr. Dhaval Gameti at Ahmedabad's Civil Hospital told The Associated Press that Ramesh "was disoriented with multiple injuries all over his body" but that he seemed to be "out of danger." Video shows Air India plane crashing in Ahmedabad Air India plane crashes shortly after takeoff, carrying more than 240 people Remembering the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson
