New Delhi: Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the sole survivor of the tragic Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad that claimed 241 lives, is still coming to terms with the near-death experience. Speaking from his hospital bed after a visit from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the 40-year-old British national of Indian origin said he has no idea how he managed to escape alive.
“I don’t know how I came out of it alive,” Mr. Kumar told Doordarshan in an emotional interview. “For a moment, I thought I was going to die. But when I opened my eyes, I realized I had survived. I unbuckled my seatbelt and got out. The airhostess and an elderly couple sitting near me died before my eyes.”
Kumar was seated in 11A, adjacent to the emergency exit, which he believes detached when the aircraft crashed into the residential quarters of BJ Medical College. “I wasn’t on top of the building. I was near the ground floor where there was a gap, so I escaped from there,” he explained. “There was a wall on the opposite side — I don’t think anyone else could get out from there.”
Moments later, flames engulfed the aircraft. Kumar sustained burns on his arm. Fighting back tears, he recalled, “Two airhostesses… they died right in front of me.”
Describing the seconds before the crash, Kumar said, “About a minute after takeoff, it felt like the plane got stuck mid-air. Suddenly, green and white lights came on. The pilots tried to lift the plane, but it just went full speed and crashed into the building.”
Prime Minister Modi visited Kumar at the Ahmedabad hospital this morning, offering words of comfort and checking on his condition. Kumar’s miraculous survival remains a lone bright spot in an otherwise devastating air disaster.
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