By Burnett Munthali
Only one man, seated in 11A, emerged alive from the wreckage of Air India Flight 171—a catastrophe that claimed 241 lives and left a nation grieving.
Viswash Kumar Ramesh, 38, was one of the 242 passengers aboard the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner that took off from the international airport in Ahmedabad, India, and crashed moments later.
The aircraft plummeted into a building shortly after takeoff, erupting in flames and leaving behind a scene of destruction and sorrow.
Officials reported that the impact, heat, and smoke made it nearly impossible for anyone to survive.
Yet, somehow, Ramesh did.
In the immediate aftermath of the crash, grainy video footage surfaced online showing a man limping, with visible injuries and a bloodied shirt, walking away from the site.
That man was Viswash Kumar Ramesh.
Surrounded by a stunned crowd, he told onlookers that he had come “from inside” the aircraft.
Initially, his survival story seemed implausible, given that the bodies of most victims were charred beyond recognition.
But as the day wore on, Air India confirmed that there was indeed one survivor who was receiving treatment at a hospital.
India’s Home Minister Amit Shah visited the survivor, and national media published photos of him standing at Ramesh’s hospital bedside.
From his hospital bed, Ramesh recounted the terrifying ordeal in an interview with Doordarshan, India’s state broadcaster.
“I still can’t believe how I got out alive,” he said.
“I thought I was also about to die.”
Ramesh, who was seated in an exit row, described the plane’s unusual behavior seconds after takeoff.
He said it felt as if the plane had gotten “stuck,” and while it seemed to be trying to accelerate, it crashed.
According to him, the front section of the aircraft smashed into an open area after hitting buildings, while the tail remained embedded in the dining facility of a nearby medical college.
After the impact, Ramesh saw an opportunity for escape and unbuckled his seatbelt.
It’s unclear whether he opened the emergency exit himself or whether the crash had forced it open.
“When my door broke, I saw there was some space — that I could try to get out,” he said.
“The other side, people couldn’t get out, as it was crushed against a wall.”
Ramesh, a British citizen, had been vacationing in India and was returning to England with his brother Ajay.
Ajay, listed in seat 11J, did not survive the crash.
Viswash managed to make a video call to his family in Leicester from the crash site, confirming that he was alive.
Back in Leicester, their family home became a place of mixed emotions—mourning for Ajay and astonished relief that Viswash had survived.
His survival is now being seen as nothing short of miraculous.
From a flight full of hopeful travelers, only one lived to tell the tale.
And his story will forever echo as a symbol of survival against the odds.
