Air India crash survivor suffers from post-traumatic amnesia: Doctor explains

The sole surviving passenger of the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crash on Thursday, Ramesh Vishwashkumar, is recovering at a civil hospital in Gujarat. In conversation with the BBC, his brother Nayan Kumar Ramesh said that Ramesh doesn't have any idea how he survived the plane crash, in which at least 265 people lost their lives. In conversation with another foreign news channel, Ahmedabad Civil Hospital Professor and Head of Surgery Dr. Rajnish Patel said that this is because Ramesh is experiencing post-traumatic amnesia or PTA, which is a state of memory loss and confusion that happens following a traumatic brain injury. 

Dr Rajnish said, "Ramesh isn't able to give the complete picture of the event sequentially. He said there was a certain kind of noise in one moment, and in the other, he was out of the plane! When he got out, he was apparently surrounded by dead bodies." Ramesh's seat was 11 A, close to the emergency exit of the ill-fated Air India flight from Ahmedabad to London. In the viral video, which shows Ramesh limping to an ambulance, with blood-stained clothes, he can be seen limping. However, the doctor says Ramesh has no injuries. "He was limping immediately after the incident, probably because it was before he could recollect and stabilise himself."

Will Ramesh be able to recall the ordeal at some point? According to the doctor, it is possible, and he also said Ramesh is fit enough to go home in a day or two unless he requires legal clearances or interventions. Air India flight AI171's crash was the first time a Dreamliner flight suffered such an episode since it entered commercial service around 2011.