‘I walked out of aircraft through a broken door,’ says lone survivor of Air India flight crash

The sole survivor of the Air India flight that crashed into the BJ Medical College hostel building in Ahmedabad remains in a state of shock. Vishwas Kumar Ramesh, a British citizen originally from the coastal town of Diu, is still struggling to comprehend the stroke of fate that spared his life while all 241 others on board perished. He believes he survived because the section of the aircraft where he was seated landed closer to the ground during the crash.

Speaking to reporters from his hospital bed a day after the tragedy, Ramesh, said he was seated in 11A, near an emergency exit on the left side of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

“Luckily, the part of the plane where I was seated landed on the ground floor of the hostel building. I saw that the door was broken, and I told myself, ‘I can try and get out’. And I did,” he recalled.

Ramesh is currently undergoing treatment at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited him on Friday morning. He suffered burn injuries to his left hand.

“I believe the others couldn't escape because a wall blocked their side, while there was a small gap where I was sitting. I saw people die in front of me. I still can’t believe I survived,” he said.

Now a resident of Leicester in the UK, Ramesh was captured in a viral video walking towards an ambulance moments after the crash. “Though I escaped, the fire burned my left hand. I walked out of the aircraft on my own and was taken to hospital by ambulance. I’m receiving proper care here,” he added.

The ill-fated Dreamliner (AI171), carrying 242 passengers and crew—including former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani—crashed into the medical college complex in Meghaninagar shortly after taking off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on Thursday afternoon.

Ramesh was the lone survivor. All 241 others on board—168 Indians, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese citizens, and one Canadian—perished. Police have confirmed that the total death toll stands at 265, including at least 24 people on the ground. Among them were four MBBS students and the wife of a doctor residing at the BJ Medical College campus.