New Delhi: A 40-year-old man is apparently the lone survivor in the Air India plane crash on Thursday. His name is Vishwash Kumar Ramesh. According to a Hindustan Times report, Vishwash Kumar, a British national, was visiting his family in India for a few days and was going back to the UK with his brother, Ajay Kumar Ramesh, 45.
Vishwash is lying on a bed in the general ward of Civil Hospital, Asarwa in Ahmedabad. “Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly,” he told HT. He has sustained “impact injuries” to his chest, eyes and feet.
The Gatwick-bound Air India flight, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner carrying 242 people including crew members, took off at 1:39 pm on Thursday and went down within minutes. The plane was carrying 230 passengers — 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian.
Vishwash still had his boarding pass intact — seat 11 A. He said he saw bodies all around him and was scared. He 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,” he recounted.
The boarding pass
Vishwash has been living in London for the past 20 years, his wife and child also live in the UK capital. He said that his brother Ajay was sitting in a different row on the flight. “We visited Diu. He was travelling with me and I can’t find him anymore. Please help me find him,” he urged.
Elsewhere in the hospital, relatives and friends of passengers aboard the Air India flight kept looking for their loved ones.
