Sole survivor reveals what happens in final seconds before Air India plane crashed
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Sarah Hooper
The only survivor of the doomed Air India flight A171 has told local media that the lights onboard flickered before the fatal crash.
40-year-old British man Vishwash Kumar Ramesh had been travelling back to the UK with his brother when the flight crashed just moments after takeoff.
He said: ‘When the flight took off, within five to 10 seconds it felt like it was stuck in the air. Suddenly, the lights started flickering – green and white – then the plane rammed into some establishment that was there.’
That establishment was a hostel for local medical students and interns. At least eight of them have been confirmed as dead, in addition to the 241 other passengers on the plane.
When I saw the exit, I thought I could come out. I tried, and I did. Maybe the people who were on the other side of the plane weren’t able to,’ he said.
He added: ‘I don’t know how I survived. I saw people dying in front of my eyes – the air hostesses, and two people I saw near me … I walked out of the rubble.’
Vishwash’s family in Leicester are anxiously awaiting news on his brother, Ajay Kumar Ramesh, 45, who was in the seat next to Vishwash.
Vishwash, who was sitting in seat 11a next to an emergency exit, said the section of the plane he was in landed on the ground, rather than hitting the roof of a building.
Speaking outside the family home in Leicester, his brother, Nayan Kumar Ramesh, 27, said: ‘We were just shocked as soon as we heard it.
‘I last spoke to him yesterday morning. We’re devastated, just devastated.’
Investigators are trying to find what caused the fatal plane crash, the deadliest aviation disaster in almost a decade.
One of the plane’s black boxes has been recovered, according to local media, but the second has not been located.
The black boxes will provide vital data recorded of the pilot’s movements, the plane’s condition and more in the moments leading up to yesterday’s disaster.
But questions have been raised about the safety of the aircraft after a video taken onboard the craft yesterday showed ‘nothing working’.
It is one of the deadliest plane crashes in terms of the number of British nationals killed and the first involving a 787.
There are fears the number of people killed on the ground could rise.
British couple Fiongal and Jamie Greenlaw-Meek, who run a spiritual wellness centre, were said to be among the dead.
And the Gloucester Muslim Community group offered ‘sincere and deepest condolences’ after Akeel Nanabawa, his wife Hannaa and their daughter Sara were reported to be among the victims.
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