Latest news with #Viswashkumar
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Seat 11A: Is it the safest seat on a plane? Experts say it depends
(NewsNation) — The crash of Air India Flight 171 has travelers worldwide wondering: Are there some seats on a plane that are safer than others, and if so, which seats are they? The crash, which took place shortly after takeoff Thursday from the Ahmedabad airport, killed 241 passengers and crew members. As investigators probe the crash and families mourn those killed, attention has turned to Ramesh Viswashkumar. Viswashkumar, 40, was the only person to survive the crash. The Latest: A single passenger survived the Air India crash, hospital says The British national was in seat 11A at the time of the crash, leading many to wonder if that particular seat is safer than others. The badly injured Viswashkumar struggled Thursday to describe what he experienced as people died in front of his eyes. NBC News reported that Viswashkumar was able to escape from the broken emergency exit door just moments before the fuel-loaded plane exploded in a fireball. 'Emergency door is broken. My seat is broken,' Viswashkumar told DD India in an interview. 'Then I see the space a little bit and I will try to come out.' 'Little bit of fire, after I'm out, then blast.' Air India's sole crash survivor narrates his escape So, is seat 11A the safest in a crash? It depends on multiple factors, according to experts. Seat 11A on a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner is typically located near the front of the Economy Class cabin. Depending on the airliner's configuration, it is a window seat in the first or second row of that cabin. According to The Times in London, seat 11A on Flight 171 was the first economy seat, adjacent to the bulkhead emergency exit. There were seven other emergency exits on the plane. What to know about the Air India plane crash that killed more than 240 people Aviation experts say that determining the safest seats on a plane is not a straightforward task. 'Each accident is different, and it is impossible to predict survivability based on seat location,' Mitchell Fox, a director at Flight Safety Foundation, told Reuters. Ron Bartsch, chairman of the Sydney-based AvLaw Aviation Consulting, told the news agency that seat 11A's location may have made it a safer choice on this particular flight, but that will not always be the case. Sitting next to an emergency exit also does not guarantee survival. Despite seven other emergency exits on Flight 171, there were no other survivors. Air India black box recovered after crash that killed 241 onboard and several others on the ground Emergency exits might not work following a crash, or they might be blocked by debris, experts say. Sitting in an aisle seat could offer a faster escape, but there is the threat of luggage falling into the aisles or hitting survivors as it tumbles from an overhead bin. A 2015 analysis by Time magazine found that passengers in the rear third of an aircraft have a better chance of surviving a lower-impact crash, according to The Times. The front of the plane typically takes the brunt of the impact. Seats near the wings may offer more protection, both because of their proximity to emergency exits and because of the structural reinforcements in that section. Those seats are closer to the fuel tanks, however. Sitting near an emergency exit also comes with added responsibility because passengers in exit row seats are asked to help fellow passengers evacuate the plane in a crisis. A look at previous plane crashes in India Viswashkumar, who was filmed walking away, bloody and bruised, from the crash, never had that chance. Reuters reported that he initially believed that he would perish with his fellow passengers. 'But when I opened my eyes, I realized 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 said. According to Reuters, it is vital for passengers to pay attention to the safety briefings that the cabin crew provides at the start of any flight. Compliance with the crew's instructions is credited with saving the lives of 379 passengers and crew aboard a Japan Airlines flight last year. Along with paying attention to the safety briefing, the Federal Aviation Administration advises that passengers keep their seat belts buckles whenever the seat belt light is lit up. Seat belts, designed to be worn low and tight on the hips, keep passengers safe during takeoff and landing and during instances of air turbulence. Children under 40 pounds should be restrained in an approved child safety seat. Passengers should also follow the airline's carry-on policies to help prevent injuries. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
13 hours ago
- General
'I stood up and ran': Miraculous survival of Air India passenger with 241 confirmed deaths
Air India confirmed Ramesh Viswashkumar is the lone survivor out of the 242 people aboard an Air India plane that crashed in Ahmedabad (new window) soon after takeoff on Thursday. He had been sitting near an emergency exit of the London-bound flight and managed to jump out, police said. Speaking from his hospital bed, the 40-year-old told Indian media that he was a British national, and was travelling back home 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. Rescue personnel stand next to the wreckage of the Air India plane, which was bound for London's Gatwick Airport. Photo: Associated Press / Ajit Solanki Social media footage shown on Indian news channels showed a man in a bloodstained white T-shirt and dark pants limping on a street and being helped by a medic. The man had bruises on his face and a goatee beard, resembling photographs of Viswashkumar in hospital after the crash that were published by local media. Reuters could not immediately verify the video, in which people gathered around the man and asked him where the other passengers were, to which he replied they're all inside. A photo of Viswashkumar's boarding pass shown online by the Hindustan Times showed that he was seated in seat 11A of the plane bound for London's Gatwick Airport. He told the paper his brother, Ajay, had been seated in a different row on the plane and asked for help to find him. A member of Viswashkumar's family based in Britain, who requested anonymity, told Reuters over the phone that he had survived and that the family was in touch with him, but declined to share further details. Ajay Valgi, a cousin of Viswashkumar who lives in Leicester, central England, told the BBC that Viswashkumar spoke by phone to confirm he was all right. He only said that he was fine, nothing else, Valgi said. Valgi said the family had not heard anything about his brother. We're not doing well. We're all upset, he said. Viswashkumar is married with one child, a boy, he added. The aircraft came down in a residential area of Ahmedabad, in northwestern India, crashing into a medical college hostel outside the airport during lunchtime — the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade. Air India posted to X, confirming the deaths of 229 passengers and all 12 crew members, with the lone survivor being treated in hospital. VideoCanadian aboard Air India crash identified (new window) VideoCrews respond to Air India crash (new window) Thomson Reuters
CNBC
13 hours ago
- General
- CNBC
The extraordinary escape of the lone surviving passenger of the Air India crash
The survivor of the Air India Flight 171 crash Thursday revealed he miraculously survived by escaping through a broken emergency exit. There were 242 people on board the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, bound for London, that crashed shortly after takeoff in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, smashing in a fiery blast into a medical college hostel, killing and injuring more people on the ground. The plane crashed into a hostel for the B.J. Medical College and Civil Hospital (BJMC). As a result, four students at BJMC died, six relatives of resident doctors died and 24 are undergoing treatment, the Federation of All India Medical Associations (FAIMA) Doctors Association said Friday. It was the worst aviation disaster in a decade. Ramesh Viswashkumar, 40, was the sole person aboard the doomed flight to survive. "I can't explain. Everything was happening in my eye. I can't explain," Viswashkumar, a British national of Indian origin, told DD News, an Indian state-owned broadcaster Friday. Police said Viswashkumar was in seat 11A, near an emergency exit. Viswashkumar, visibly cut up from the crash, said he was able to escape moments before the blast when the emergency door broke. "Emergency door is broken. My seat is broken. Then I see the space a little bit and I will try to come out," he told DD News. He was able to get out as the aircraft caught fire. "Little bit of fire, after I'm out, then blast," he recalled. Footage of the crash showed a massive ball of fire as the plane's full fuel tanks exploded, filling the sky with thick black smoke. Survivability is "extremely limited" in plane crashes like the one that happened in Ahmedabad yesterday, said Trevor Bock, a safety consultant at Aviation Safety Asia. A large, heavy aircraft will be torn apart by the enormous amount of energy it carries as the plane hits the ground, he said. "We're talking thousands of kilograms of weight," adding that the plane, which has just taken off, had "a lot of fuel." Viswashkumar explained that he and his brother had been staying in India for the last eight or nine months and he was bound back home to London, where his family lived. Viswashkumar told Reuters in Hindi that within a minute after takeoff, the plane felt like it came to a standstill in the air and the green and white cabin lights turned on. "I could feel engine thrust increasing to go up but it crashed with speed into the building," he told Reuters. He explained that the side of the plane he was on landed on the ground floor of the hostel. "I could see that there was space outside the aircraft, so when my door broke I tried to escape through a little space and I did. On the opposite side (of plane) was the building wall, so nobody could have escaped. The plane crashed there. There was some space where I landed," he said. "I don't know how I managed to escape. It was in front of my eyes that the air hostess and others (died)," he added. Viswashkumar's left hand was burned. An ambulance took him to a hospital where he remains in recovery. He is "doing well" but "psychologically disturbed" by the event, according to the medical director of the Civil Hospital, where he is being treated. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Viswashkumar in the hospital Friday. Viswashkumar summed up his extraordinary survival in a few words: "It's miracle, everything," he told DD News. Viswashkumar's brother in the United Kingdom told Sky News, NBC News' international partner, that "this is a miracle that he survived." "But what other miracle for my other brother?" he said, referring to their third brother who was on the flight with Viswashkumar. In total, there were 230 passengers and 12 crew members on board, Air India said, and 241 were killed. Among the passengers were 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, a Canadian national and seven Portuguese nationals.
The Advertiser
18 hours ago
- General
- The Advertiser
Sole survivor of Air India plane crash recounts ordeal
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. Ramesh Viswashkumar, 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 Viswashkumar, 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" in the British media. "I don't believe how I survived. For some time I thought I was also going to die," 40-year-old Viswashkumar told Indian state broadcaster DD News from his hospital bed on Friday. "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," Viswashkumar said. "The opposite side of the aircraft was blocked by the building wall so nobody could have come out of there." Viswashkumar suffered burns and bruises and has been kept under observation, an official at the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad told Reuters by phone, requesting anonymity. "His escape ... and without any grievous injury, was nothing short of a miracle. He also realises that and is a bit shaken by the trauma of it too," the official said. Police said some people at the hostel and others on the ground were also killed in the crash. Viswashkumar 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". At the family home in Leicester, central England, Viswashkumar's cousin Hiren Kantilal said they had spoken with him via video call that morning and relatives were urgently trying to make arrangements to travel to India. Asked about Viswashkumar's brother, Kantilal said: "We can't describe in the words, we are totally heartbroken." Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived in his home state of Gujarat to visit the crash site, met Viswashkumar in hospital on Friday. 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. Ramesh Viswashkumar, 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 Viswashkumar, 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" in the British media. "I don't believe how I survived. For some time I thought I was also going to die," 40-year-old Viswashkumar told Indian state broadcaster DD News from his hospital bed on Friday. "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," Viswashkumar said. "The opposite side of the aircraft was blocked by the building wall so nobody could have come out of there." Viswashkumar suffered burns and bruises and has been kept under observation, an official at the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad told Reuters by phone, requesting anonymity. "His escape ... and without any grievous injury, was nothing short of a miracle. He also realises that and is a bit shaken by the trauma of it too," the official said. Police said some people at the hostel and others on the ground were also killed in the crash. Viswashkumar 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". At the family home in Leicester, central England, Viswashkumar's cousin Hiren Kantilal said they had spoken with him via video call that morning and relatives were urgently trying to make arrangements to travel to India. Asked about Viswashkumar's brother, Kantilal said: "We can't describe in the words, we are totally heartbroken." Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived in his home state of Gujarat to visit the crash site, met Viswashkumar in hospital on Friday. 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. Ramesh Viswashkumar, 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 Viswashkumar, 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" in the British media. "I don't believe how I survived. For some time I thought I was also going to die," 40-year-old Viswashkumar told Indian state broadcaster DD News from his hospital bed on Friday. "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," Viswashkumar said. "The opposite side of the aircraft was blocked by the building wall so nobody could have come out of there." Viswashkumar suffered burns and bruises and has been kept under observation, an official at the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad told Reuters by phone, requesting anonymity. "His escape ... and without any grievous injury, was nothing short of a miracle. He also realises that and is a bit shaken by the trauma of it too," the official said. Police said some people at the hostel and others on the ground were also killed in the crash. Viswashkumar 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". At the family home in Leicester, central England, Viswashkumar's cousin Hiren Kantilal said they had spoken with him via video call that morning and relatives were urgently trying to make arrangements to travel to India. Asked about Viswashkumar's brother, Kantilal said: "We can't describe in the words, we are totally heartbroken." Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived in his home state of Gujarat to visit the crash site, met Viswashkumar in hospital on Friday. 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. Ramesh Viswashkumar, 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 Viswashkumar, 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" in the British media. "I don't believe how I survived. For some time I thought I was also going to die," 40-year-old Viswashkumar told Indian state broadcaster DD News from his hospital bed on Friday. "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," Viswashkumar said. "The opposite side of the aircraft was blocked by the building wall so nobody could have come out of there." Viswashkumar suffered burns and bruises and has been kept under observation, an official at the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad told Reuters by phone, requesting anonymity. "His escape ... and without any grievous injury, was nothing short of a miracle. He also realises that and is a bit shaken by the trauma of it too," the official said. Police said some people at the hostel and others on the ground were also killed in the crash. Viswashkumar 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". At the family home in Leicester, central England, Viswashkumar's cousin Hiren Kantilal said they had spoken with him via video call that morning and relatives were urgently trying to make arrangements to travel to India. Asked about Viswashkumar's brother, Kantilal said: "We can't describe in the words, we are totally heartbroken." Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived in his home state of Gujarat to visit the crash site, met Viswashkumar in hospital on Friday.
Mint
19 hours ago
- General
- Mint
Is seat 11A the safest on a plane? Not really, experts say
(Refiles story to clarify Ramesh as surname of the survivor, and Viswashkumar as his given name, and not the other way around, based on interviews with his family) Experts say seat location doesn't guarantee survival Sitting near exit can aid escape, but not always 11A Safety briefings and compliance crucial for survival By Joe Brock and Lisa Barrington LONDON, June 13 (Reuters) - The survival of a passenger who escaped through an exit door seconds after his Air India flight crashed killing everyone else on board has prompted speculation over whether his seat, 11A, is the safest. Aviation experts say it is not so straightforward because aircraft vary widely in seat configurations, crashes are unique and survival often hinges on a complex interplay of factors. "Each accident is different, and it is impossible to predict survivability based on seat location," said Mitchell Fox, a director at Flight Safety Foundation, a U.S.-based nonprofit. Viswashkumar Ramesh said his 11A seat was near an emergency exit on the London-bound Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner that crashed in Ahmedabad on Thursday and he managed to walk out. Sitting next to an exit door might help you survive an accident but it won't always be 11A because aircraft can have dozens of different configurations. "In this particular instance, because the passenger was sitting adjacent to the emergency exit, this was obviously the safest seat on the day," said Ron Bartsch, Chairman at Sydney-based AvLaw Aviation Consulting. "But it's not always 11A, it's just 11A on this configuration of the Boeing 787." A 2007 Popular Mechanics study of crashes since 1971 found that passengers towards the back of the plane had better survival odds. Some experts suggest the wing section offers more stability. Sitting next to an exit door, like Ramesh, gives you an opportunity to be one of the first out of the plane, although some exits don't function after a crash. The opposite side of the plane was blocked by the wall of a building it crashed into, he said. In January of last year, a panel missing several bolts blew off the side of a Boeing 737 MAX mid-flight, creating a gaping hole and damaging the adjacent seat. Fortunately, no one was seated there at the time, and the incident resulted in no fatalities. Sitting by the aisle might offer you a speedier escape but it increases the likelihood of being hit in the head by luggage falling out of the overhead bins - a much more common occurrence than major crashes. Paying attention to the safety briefing at the start of your flight - often dismissed as routine - is likely the best way to improve your chances of survival, experts say. Disciplined compliance with cabin crew evacuation advice, including leaving bags behind, was a key factor in saving the lives of all 379 passengers and crew aboard a Japan Airlines flight in January last year. The Airbus A350 aircraft had collided with a Coast Guard plane at Tokyo's Haneda Airport, killing five of the six crew members on the smaller aircraft. Safety briefings typically cover critical instructions such as how to fasten your seatbelt securely, adopt the correct brace position and plan your evacuation route. A common tip is to count the number of rows between your seat and the nearest exit - vital knowledge if the cabin fills with smoke and visibility is low. Despite disasters such as the Air India crash, plane designs have evolved to increase the likelihood of passengers walking away from a rare plane accident, Fox said. These include floor path lighting, fire detection and extinguishers, less flammable cabin materials and improved access to emergency exits. "There have been remarkable advancements in airplane cabin design that have improved the survivability of accidents on or near the ground," Fox said. (Reporting by Joe Brock in London and Lisa Barrington in Seoul; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
