In what is now being called the “miracle of seat 11A,” 40-year-old Ramesh Viswashkumar has been identified as the sole survivor of the tragic Air India crash that claimed 241 lives shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad on Thursday.
The British national of Indian descent was aboard flight AI171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner headed to London Gatwick, when the plane crashed into a medical college hostel just moments after takeoff. The crash triggered a massive fire that engulfed the aircraft’s fuselage and nearby buildings.
Speaking from his hospital bed at Ahmedabad’s Civil Hospital, a visibly shaken Viswashkumar recounted the terrifying final moments before the crash and his frantic escape from the wreckage.
“I still can’t believe I survived. For a moment, I truly thought I was going to die,” Viswashkumar told India’s state broadcaster, DD News. “But when I opened my eyes and realized I was alive, I quickly tried to unbuckle myself and escape through any opening I could find. I watched the air hostess and others die right before my eyes.
”Viswashkumar was seated in 11A, near an emergency exit—something officials believe contributed to his survival. The aircraft reportedly came to rest in a position where the fuselage split near that section, creating a narrow escape path, while the opposite side was completely crushed against the hostel building.
“The side of the plane I was on hit the ground, and I noticed there was an opening outside the aircraft,” he recalled. “When the door broke, I made an attempt to escape through it—and I did.
”Footage of Viswashkumar—limping, bloodied, and visibly dazed—wandering the streets near the crash site has since gone viral, serving as a haunting image of survival in the midst of tragedy.
Medical personnel attending to Viswashkumar have described his condition as stable, noting that he sustained no life-threatening injuries.
“His escape — and the fact that he emerged without any serious harm — is truly miraculous,” a hospital official told Reuters. “He understands that, and he’s still visibly shaken by the trauma of the experience.
