Vishwashkumar Ramesh meets Indian interior minister Amit Shah in hospital (Reuters)
British passenger survives Air India plane crash that killed at least 200
…Says I have no idea how I survived, doesn’t way about his brother
Vishwashkumar Ramesh meets Indian interior minister Amit Shah in hospital (Reuters)
A British man, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh,is reportedly said to be the sole survivor of the London-bound Air India flight carrying 242 people that crashed shortly after take-off in the north-west Indian city of Ahmedabad.
Kumar Ramesh, who was in seat 11A of the flight, said the aircraft crashed almost immediately after take-off. It is believed his brother was on the same flight.
“Thirty seconds after take-off there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly,” Ramesh told the Hindustan Times from a general ward in the civil hospital in Asarwa, Ahmedabad.
The 40-year-old British national told the newspaper he was returning to the United Kingdom , where he has lived for 20 years, after visiting family in India. Another brother, speaking outside the family home in Leicester, in the East Midlands, said Ramesh had “no idea” how he escaped.
Nayan Kumar Ramesh, 27, added: “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’.”
His cousin in Leicester, Ajay Valgi, told the BBC that Mr Ramesh called his family to say he was “fine” but he does not know the whereabouts of his brother, Ajay who was also on the plane.
A relative added: “He’s doing well I think. It’s a big shock. I don’t have many words to describe the incident.”
Initial reports suggested all passengers onboard had died, but local police confirmed they had found one survivor of the flight, which plummeted into a medical college on Thursday, with videos showing a huge explosion and thick smoke in the immediate aftermath.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which was carrying 53 British nationals among its more than 240 passengers, was engulfed in a huge fireball after crashing into the Meghani Nagar residential area minutes after taking off at 1.38pm local time (09:08 BST) on Thursday.
The Ahmedabad police commissioner, GS Malik, told the news agency ANI there was one survivor who was in seat 11A. The flight manifest shared by authorities said the passenger in that seat was Ramesh. Malik told ANI the survivor “has been in the hospital and is under treatment.”
There were 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian on the London Gatwick Airport-bound flight, Air India said.
A British couple who run a spiritual wellness centre and yoga studio were reportedly among those on the flight. Fiongal and Jamie Greenlaw-Meek, who run the Wellness Foundry in south London and Ramsgate, Kent, which offers psychic readings, tarot, reiki and yoga, spoke before the flight of their love of India and the “mind-blowing” experiences they had had there.
On Tuesday, the Greenlaw-Meeks posted on their social media accounts from their hotel in the city. They spoke of creating a vlog documenting their experience, saying were excited to talk about it. Sitting next to his husband, Fiongal said: “So it’s our last night in India and we have had a magical experience really, there have been some quite mind-blowing things that have happened.”
Source: The Guardian , BBC
