The sole survivor of the Air India plane crash tragedy has revealed how he was able to free himself from the wreckage in an exclusive new interview.
Brit Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who was sitting in seat 11A, said it was a ‘miracle’ he survived last Thursday’s disaster that killed 279 people.
However he added he feels ‘terrible’ he could not save his brother Ajay and now feels racked with guilt over his death.
The 40-year-old from Leicester told The Sun: ‘It’s a miracle I survived. I am OK physically but I feel terrible that I could not save Ajay.’
Vishwash had tried to book two seats next to each other on flight AI171, which crashed into a densely populated part of the city of Ahmedabad shortly after takeoff.
However by the time he came to make the reservation, he was forced to pick two seats apart from each other in row 11.
Vishwash said: ‘If we had been sat together we both might have survived.
‘I tried to get two seats together but someone had already got one. Me and Ajay would have been sitting together.
Brit Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who was sitting in seat 11A, said it was a ‘miracle’ he survived last Thursday’s disaster that killed 279 people
British national Vishwash, 40, from Leicester, had plasters on his face and was walking with a limp as he held up the casket of his sibling Ajay
Air India flight AI171 last week crashed in a densely populated part of the west India city of Ahmedabad
‘But I lost my brother in front of my eyes. So now I am constantly thinking ‘Why can’t I save my brother?’
Vishwash, who was sitting next to one of the plane’s emergency exits, was able to crawl through a hole in the twisted fuselage of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
However, Ajay who was sitting in seat 11J, died alongside a further 240 passengers and crew.
Footage exclusively obtained by MailOnline showed Vishwash tried going back to the site of the inferno to save his brother.
Vishwash told the first emergency service worker on site: ‘My family member is in there, my brother and he’s burning to death. I have to save him.’
Emergency worker Satinder Singh Sandhu said: ‘I walked nearer to Mr Ramesh, grabbed him by the arm and led him away to a waiting ambulance.
‘I had no idea that he was a passenger on the plane and thought he was a resident of the hostel or a passer-by.
‘He was very disoriented and shocked and was limping. There was also blood on his face, but he was able to speak.
‘He told the paramedics that he was flying to London when the plane fell and that he wanted to go back to save his family.’
Indian Prime Minister Modi meets miracle Brit survivor of the Ahmedabad plane crash
People look at the debris of an Air India plane crashed in Ahmedabad of India’s Gujarat state, June 12
Vishwash was later seen crying in anguish, and had to be carried away
Vishwash, who had plasters on his face, today carried his brother’s coffin at a ceremony in Gujarat.
He was later seen crying in anguish, and had to be carried away.
Last week’s crash was one of the deadliest plane accidents in terms of the number of British nationals killed.
Th aircraft struck a medical college hostel in a residential part of Ahmedabad last week, killing 241 of the 242 people on board, 52 of whom were British.
Investigators are yet to determine the cause of the crash.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, an Air India flight on the same route as the plane that crashed last week was cancelled because of ‘precautionary checks’, the airline said.
Air India’s website shows the Flight AI159 was initially delayed by one hour and 50 minutes but was later cancelled.
A flight from Gatwick to Amritsar, India, was also axed.
The cancelled flights were scheduled to be operated by a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which is the same type of aircraft that crashed shortly after take-off at Ahmedabad on June 12.
