Vishwashkumar Ramesh, the only survivor of the London-bound Air India flight that crashed shortly after takeoff, says he “has no idea how he survived”.
CKNNews had reported how the Boeing 787-8 flight crashed upon departure from Ahmedabad Airport en route to London’s Gatwick airport on Wednesday evening.
The airline was carrying 53 British nationals among its 242 passengers.
Images from the city showed thick smoke rising into the sky, with crowds gathering and traffic halted nearby.
Ramesh, a British national, was in seat 11A on the flight when the incident happened.
BBC quoted Ramesh’s brother, Nayan Kumar Ramesh, as saying “it feels great seeing him (Ramesh) doing well” but he was worried about his other brother Ajay, who was also onboard.
He said: “We were all in shock as soon as we heard what happened, just utter shock. Speechless.
“He (Ramesh) himself has no idea how he survived, how he got out of the plane.
“When he called us he was just more worried about my other brother, like ‘Find Ajay, find Ajay.’ That’s all he cares about at the moment.”
Earlier, the Hindustan Times quoted Ramesh as saying that he heard a “loud noise” around 30 seconds after take-off – and before the plane went down.
“It all happened so quickly,” he told the newspaper from a general ward in the civil hospital in Asarwa, Ahmedabad, adding that he had received “impact injuries” to his chest, eyes and feet.
“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.”
Initial reports suggested all passengers onboard had died, but local police confirmed they had found one survivor.
169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, one Canadian and seven Portuguese nationals were onboard the flight, according to Air India.
