Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday met Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the sole survivor of the devastating Air India plane crash. Ramesh, a British national of Indian origin, is recovering from injuries sustained in the crash and is being treated at a hospital in Ahmedabad.
Ramesh, traveling with his 45-year-old brother Ajay Kumar Rakesh, recounted the harrowing moments to Prime Minister Modi during their meeting.
“My brother was seated in a different row and didn’t survive. I still don’t know how I made it out alive,” he told the Prime Minister.
“For a while, I thought I was going to die. Everything happened in front of my eyes — the noise, the impact, the fire. I somehow found a small space to escape.”
Describing the terrifying seconds before the crash, he said, “After take-off, the aircraft seemed to stall briefly. Then it suddenly nosedived and crashed into the building. I was on the opposite side of where the plane hit. That saved me.”
The Boeing 787-8 aircraft was carrying 242 passengers and crew members. The passengers comprised 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian national.
“We regret to inform that of the 242 aboard, there are 241 confirmed fatalities,” the Air India airline said in a statement issued late Thursday.
It said the sole survivor is a British national of Indian origin and is being treated in a hospital.
Prime Minister Modi also visited the Civil Hospital and met with several injured victims of the crash, many of whom are students of the BJ Medical College.
The hostel that bore the brunt of the impact was filled with young MBBS students, many of whom had no time to react when the plane hit the building.
The ill-fated Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was en route to London when it crashed shortly after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on Thursday. It slammed into the hostel of BJ Medical College in the densely populated Meghaninagar area, just 3 km from the airport.
The crash occurred around 1.30 pm — just as medical students had gathered in the mess-cum-dining hall for lunch.
Authorities have launched a massive rescue and identification operation. The process of handing over bodies to grieving families has begun, even as investigators comb through the debris to determine the cause of one of India’s deadliest aviation tragedies in recent memory.(IANS)
