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A British man is the sole survivor of the London-bound Air India flight carrying 242 people that crashed shortly after takeoff in the north-west Indian city of Ahmedabad.
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who was in seat 11A of the flight, said the aircraft crashed almost immediately after takeoff. It is believed his brother was on the same flight.
“Thirty seconds after takeoff there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly,” Ramesh told the Hindustan Times from a general ward in the civil hospital in Asarwa, Ahmedabad.
The 40-year-old British national told the newspaper he was returning to the UK, where he has lived for 20 years, after visiting family in India. Another brother, speaking outside the family home in Leicester, in the East Midlands, said Ramesh had “no idea” how he escaped.
Nayan Kumar Ramesh, 27, added: “We were just shocked as soon as we heard it. I last spoke to him yesterday morning. We’re devastated, just devastated. He said, ‘I have no idea how I exited the plane’.”
A relative added: “He’s doing well I think. It’s a big shock. I don’t have many words to describe the incident.”
Initial reports suggested all passengers onboard had died, but local police confirmed they had found one survivor of the flight, which plummeted into a medical college on Thursday, with videos showing a huge explosion and thick smoke in the immediate aftermath.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which was carrying 53 British nationals among its more than 240 passengers, was engulfed in a huge fireball after crashing into the Meghani Nagar residential area minutes after taking off at 1.38pm local time (09:08 BST) on Thursday.
The Ahmedabad police commissioner, GS Malik, told the news agency ANI there was one survivor who was in seat 11A. The flight manifest shared by authorities said the passenger in that seat was Ramesh. Malik told ANI the survivor “has been in the hospital and is under treatment”.
Ramesh, who lives with his wife and child in London, was anxious to find his brother who was sitting on a different row. He told the newspaper: “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.”
A video of the crash circulating online showed the aircraft flying over a residential area of Ahmedabad. It disappeared behind trees before a huge explosion was followed by large plumes of black smoke.
Images of the aftermath showed parts of the plane embedded into BJ Medical College, with pieces of its landing gear, fuselage and tail protruding from the building.
Air India said 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, one Canadian and seven Portuguese nationals were onboard the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Gatwick airport said a reception centre was being set up for relatives of passengers.
A British couple who run a spiritual wellness centre and yoga studio were reportedly among those on the flight. Fiongal and Jamie Greenlaw-Meek, who run the Wellness Foundry in south London and Ramsgate, Kent, which offers psychic readings, tarot, reiki and yoga, spoke before the flight of their love of India and the “mind-blowing” experiences they had had there.
On Tuesday, the Greenlaw-Meeks posted on their social media accounts from their hotel in the city. They spoke of creating a vlog documenting their experience, saying were excited to talk about it. Sitting next to his husband, Fiongal said: “So it’s our last night in India and we have had a magical experience really, there have been some quite mind-blowing things that have happened.”
Akeel Nanabawa, his wife, Hannaa Vorajee, and their daughter, who lived in Gloucester, were also onboard, according to the Gloucester Muslim Community, which said in a statement: “Unfortunately, we are led to believe that three Gloucester locals, Akeel Nanabawa, his wife and four-year old child, were all onboard. Those wishing to do taziyat, please allow the family some time to mourn amongst themselves.”
In a post on social media, the Gloucester Muslim Bereavement Council said it was “profoundly heartbroken by the devastating loss of life in the catastrophic crash of Flight AI171, travelling from Ahmedabad to London”.
Naming the three victims, it said: “During this moment of overwhelming sorrow, our hearts go out to all those left behind. No words can truly ease the pain of such a profound loss, but we pray that the family may find solace in the tremendous outpouring of compassion and solidarity from communities across the world.”
UK officials are being deployed to India to support the investigation, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch said. Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister, said the crash was “devastating”, while the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, said it was “heartbreaking beyond words”.
King Charles and Queen Camilla said in a statement they were “desperately shocked”, adding: “Our special prayers and deepest possible sympathy are with the families and friends of all those affected by this appallingly tragic incident across so many nations, as they await news of their loved ones.”
