A British man has emerged as the sole survivor of the Air India flight that crashed shortly after takeoff in Ahmedabad, killing 241 people on board and at least 24 on the ground. Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, from London, was sitting in an emergency exit row and managed to jump out of the wreckage before the aircraft burst into flames.
Flight AI171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for London Gatwick, crashed into the Meghani Nagar residential area at 1.38pm local time on Thursday. The plane was carrying 242 people, including two pilots and 10 cabin crew. Among the passengers were 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese and one Canadian.
Ramesh described the moments after the crash: 'Thirty seconds after takeoff, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly. When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran.' He suffered bruising to his chest, eyes and feet but was conscious and lucid.
India's home minister, Amit Shah, said the intense heat from 125,000 litres of burning jet fuel made escape nearly impossible. The final death toll will only be confirmed after DNA testing of remains is completed. The cause of the crash remains unknown, though one of the two black boxes has been recovered.
Among the British victims were Akeel Nanabawa, his wife Hannaa and their four-year-old daughter Sara, according to a statement from Gloucester Muslim Community. Air India's chair, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, described the crash as a 'tragic accident' and said a support team had been set up for families.
