‘Opened my eyes, saw I'm alive’: Sole survivor of Ahmedabad crash recounts horror, escape
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh says he was seated near the emergency door and was immediately flung out and away from the wreckage as soon as the plane crashed
When all hope was lost and all 242 occupants aboard the ill-fated London-headed Air India Dreamliner were assumed dead following the deadly crash near Ahmedabad airport on Thursday (June 12), one survivor walked out of the scene – injured, bleeding but alive.
11 A seat
Forty-five-year-old Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, speaking to the media about his miraculous escape, says he was seated on 11A, which was next to the emergency door on the left side of the aircraft.
Also read: Ahmedabad plane crash: A rare tragedy for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner
The Boeing 787-8 aircraft, operating the Ahmedabad-London AI171 flight, had 242 people on board, including 12 crew members. 11A is among the six seats in the first row of the economy class of Air India's B787-8 planes. It is the window seat near one of the emergency exit doors as well as the aircraft galley area, according to the seat map.
‘Was flung out of aircraft after crash’
Vishwash said the aircraft disintegrated shortly after take-off, and he, along with his seat, was flung out, away from the fire and wreckage.
A viral video from Thursday shows an injured Vishwash limping towards the ambulance as curious bystanders around him fire questions at him about the crash and any other survivors.
“The plane broke, and my seat came off…that is how I was saved,” he reportedly told doctors at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital where he has been admitted.
‘Don’t know how I am alive’
Still quizzed how he made it alive, when everyone else died, Vishwash says it was a traumatic experience watching co-passengers breathe their last in front of him.
“I don’t know how I came out of it alive,” he told Doordarshan.
Also read: Ahmedabad plane crash: Pilot issued Mayday call; what is it?
He said that the place where he landed was low, and that’s why he could unbuckle his seat belt and walk out.
“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 seat belt and got out of these. The airhostess and aunty uncle all died before my eyes,” he said.
‘Pilots tried to raise plane but…’
Asked if he landed on the hostel building of BJ Medical College, he said he fell close to ground level.
“No, I was closer to the ground, the ground floor, where there was space. So I came out from there. The building wall was on the opposite side and I don’t think anyone was able to come out that way,” he told Doordarshan adding that the fire broke out soon after.
When asked to describe the moments before the crash, he said, “A minute after the take-off, it felt like the plane had got stuck. Then the green and white lights came on. They (the pilots) tried to raise the plane but it went full speed and crashed into the building.”
Also read: Air India crash: DNA sampling unit set up at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital
PM meets survivor
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who reached Ahmedabad on Friday, met Vishwash at the hospital.
"The good news is that one person survived the crash...," Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Thursday after meeting Vishwash.
Of the 242 people who were in the aircraft, 169 were Indian nationals, 53 were British nationals, seven Portuguese nationals, and one Canadian national. The tragedy also claimed five more lives on the medical campus where the plane crashed.