Featured Image Credit: X/NewIndianXpress
Topics: Air India, India, Plane, World News
Liv Bridge
The moment the sole survivor of the Air India plane crash managed to escape the burning wreckage has been released in new footage.
On June 12, 40-year-old British man Vishwash Kumar Ramesh miraculously managed to crawl out and walk away from the wreckage of the Air India flight that killed all other 241 passengers and crew.
The doomed AI171 jet destined for London also killed dozens more on the ground, with the death toll officially rising to 270, as it crashed into a building used for doctors' accommodation for a medical college less than a minute after takeoff from Ahmedabad, India.
The authorities are yet to determine what went wrong with the Boeing 787-8, which stands as one of the worst aviation disasters this century.
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Ramesh was sat in seat 11a on the plane and is the only person to have survived the ordeal, which saw the jet go up in flames from a giant fireball when it plummeted into the residential area.
The father-of-one from Leicester recalled from his hospital bed that he managed to 'unbuckle' himself from his seat and used his leg to push through an opening where he crawled out to safety.
“When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me. Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital," he added to local news media.
Now, the inexplicable moment Ramesh emerged from the wreckage has been revealed in new footage.
He could be seen walking away, dazed and limping, while plumes of thick black smoke and an inferno from the building and burning jet raged just meters behind him.
Meanwhile, frantic people in the streets could be heard making calls to emergency services.
A passerby then approached the bleeding survivor and guided him away from the wreckage into the arms of emergency services as dozens more rushed to his aid.
Ramesh, who was returning home to his family in the UK alongside his brother Ajay on the flight, tragically lost his sibling who was sitting in a seat on the same row.
He revealed in an interview with Indian state media DD News that the part of the jet he was sitting in was near to the ground and had not made contact with the building.
Although the emergency door was broken, incredibly Ramesh said he didn't have to jump to the ground and said he 'just walked out'.
As for how the tragedy happened, Ramesh admits he 'can't explain' everything but recalled a 'loud noise' and 'flickering lights' inside the aircraft within seconds of taking off.
"I saw people dying in front of my eyes - the air hostesses, and two people I saw near me," he told the Indian broadcaster. "For a moment, I felt like I was going to die too, but when I opened my eyes and looked around, I realised I was alive.
"I still can't believe how I survived. I walked out of the rubble."
Doctors treating him have confirmed Ramesh suffered only minor injuries, with abrasions to his arm and some swelling to his eyes, but is fortunately 'vitally stable'.
Authorities have managed to recover the jet's black box from the crash site - from the rooftop of a nearby building - which will reveal second-by-second what took place before the fatal collision, including pilot conversations, radio transmissions and any other warning alarms or signs.
Campbell Wilson, CEO & MD of Air India, has also pledged an interim payment of 25 lakh rupees, or approximately £21,000 (around $28,000), to each of the families of the deceased and survivors in addition to the 1 crore rupees, approx £85,000 ($115k), committed by Tata Sons.