Lone India plane crash survivor recounts miracle escape

The lone survivor of 242 people aboard a London-bound passenger plane that crashed in the Indian city of Ahmedabad said Friday how even he was struggling to explain how he miraculously walked out alive from the fireball explosion.

“Everything happened in front of me, and even I couldn’t believe how I managed to come out alive from that,” British citizen Vishwash Kumar Ramesh said from his hospital bed on Friday, speaking in Hindi to national broadcaster DD News.

The Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane, which was full of fuel as it took off for a long-haul flight to London, exploded into a burst of orange flame on Thursday afternoon just after taking off.

“Initially, I too thought that I was about to die, but then I opened my eyes and realised that I was still alive,” he said.

“I saw the air hostess and aunties and uncles all in front of me,” he said, his voice trailing off in emotion, using a term of respect used in India for older people.

“I unfastened my seatbelt and tried to escape, and I did,” he said.

“I think the side I was on was not facing the hostel,” he added. “Where I landed was closer to the ground and there was space too – and when my door broke — I saw that there was space, and I thought I could try to slip out.”

Videos shared on social media showed Ramesh soon after, dressed in a bloodied t-shirt and limping, but walking towards an ambulance.

“My left hand got slightly burnt due to the fire, but an ambulance brought me to the hospital,” he said. “The people here are taking good care of me.”

Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese, and a Canadian on board the flight bound for London’s Gatwick airport, as well as 12 crew members.

The death toll currently stands at 265, police said.

Authorities have set up DNA testing for relatives of passengers and those killed on the ground to identify the scorched bodies and body parts.