One year ago, Air India Flight 171 fell out of the sky barely 30 seconds after takeoff, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and others on the ground. The lone survivor, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, recounts the horror of that day. He was seated in 11A, an emergency exit row, when the plane crashed.
Ramesh, a British national who had lived in London for about two decades, was on his way back to the UK with his brother, Ajay Kumar Ramesh. The brothers had visited their hometown of Diu together and were returning home when the plane went down.
Ramesh remembers a loud noise and then being thrown out of the plane. He was scared and ran until someone grabbed hold of him and put him in an ambulance to the hospital. When doctors came to check him, they asked him to empty his pockets, and he removed his boarding pass, which confirmed his identity as a passenger on the flight.
Ramesh's brother, Ajay, was not so lucky. Ramesh pleaded with hospital staff to find his brother, saying, 'Please find my brother. I am waiting here.' But it was too late. The crash had killed all 241 others on board, including Ramesh's brother.
Ramesh's story is a testament to the bravery and resilience of the human spirit. Despite the trauma he experienced, he remained calm and cooperative throughout the ordeal.
