Air India Crash Survivor Says He Escaped Through Broken Emergency Exit

The lone survivor of the Air India plane crash on June 12 that killed hundreds of people near Ahmedabad, a city in the Indian state of Gujarat, said he walked out of a broken emergency exit after the aircraft hit a medical college hostel minutes after take-off.

A total of 230 passengers and 12 crew members were on board flight AI171 flying to London, Gatwick. The 12-year-old Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft departed from Ahmedabad at 1:38 p.m. local time, according to Air India.

Passengers on the flight included 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese nationals, and one Canadian national, the airline said.

Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a 40-year-old British national of Indian origin, is the only known survivor.

He told the Hindustan Times that he had been visiting family in India and was traveling to Britain with his brother Ajay, who is believed not to have survived the crash.

Recounting events, Ramesh told Indian state broadcaster DD News from his hospital bed: “I don’t believe how I survived. For some time, I thought I was also going to die.

“But when I opened my eyes, I realized I was alive, and I tried to unbuckle myself from the seat and escape from where I could. It was in front of my eyes that the air hostess and others [died].”

Ramesh had been seated in 11A, next to an emergency exit on the plane.

He said the plane appeared to come to a standstill in midair for a few seconds shortly after take-off, and the green and white cabin lights were turned on. He could feel the engine thrust increasing, but then the plane “crashed with speed into the hostel,” he said.

“The side of the plane I was in landed on the ground, and I could see that there was space outside the aircraft, so when my door broke, I tried to escape through it and I did,” Ramesh said.

“The opposite side of the aircraft was blocked by the building wall, so nobody could have come out of there.”

Social media footage of Ramesh was aired on Indian news channels and showed him limping on the street in a blood-stained T-shirt with bruises on his face.

Ramesh said he walked out of the crash site with only burn injuries on his left arm.

Doctors told local media that Ramesh did not sustain any major injuries.

The plane came down in a residential area just after takeoff, crashing into a medical college hostel outside the airport.

Police said some people at the hostel and others on the ground were also killed in the crash. Rescue workers are currently searching for missing people and aircraft parts in the charred buildings of the hostel.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived in his home state of Gujarat to visit the crash site, said he had also met with Viswashkumar.

In a statement on social media platform X, Modi said: “Met those injured in the aftermath of the tragic plane crash in Ahmedabad, including the lone survivor and assured them that we are with them and their families in this tough time. The entire nation is praying for their speedy recovery.”

According to the Aviation Safety Network database, this is the first-ever crash involving a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft.

Reuters contributed to this report.