The Air India crash will go down as one of the most deadly aviation disasters of the 21st century. Flight AI171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, was travelling from Ahmedabad, India, to London Gatwick, United Kingdom, and crashed shortly after take-off at 13:38. To rub salt into the wound, the plane crashed into a dense urban area, specifically a building providing accommodation for doctors. A day later, and the death toll continues to rise. 241 people aboard the aircraft and eight people on the ground are confirmed to have lost their lives, though many within the building the plane hit remain missing. But, in a frankly miraculous twist, one passenger aboard the aircraft walked away with only minor injuries. 40-year-old British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh was in India visiting family and was sitting in seat 11A on the flight. Now, in his first full interview, he’s given his account of what happened and how he became the flight’s sole survivor. “I thought I was dead” #WATCH | DD News held an exclusive conversation with #Vishwashkumar, the only survivor of the Ahmedabad plane crash.#planecrashahmedabad #AirIndiaFlightCrash |@neerajddnews pic.twitter.com/tGD2VOVFkr— DD News (@DDNewslive) June 13, 2025 Speaking from his hospital bed to a reporter from DD News, Ramesh said he realized early on that something wasn’t right with the plane: “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. The aircraft wasn’t gaining altitude and was just gliding before it suddenly slammed into a building and exploded.” Ramesh is completely baffled as to why he wasn’t incinerated in the explosion, though he believes the part of the plane he was in didn’t crash onto the roof of the building: “At first, I thought I was dead. Later, I realised I was still alive and saw an opening in the fuselage. I managed to unbuckle myself, used my leg to push through that opening, and crawled out. I don’t know how I survived.” But while Ramesh might be physically fine, the experience sounds (as you might expect), deeply traumatic. “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.” In addition, Ramesh’s brother was sitting in the seat next to him and did not survive the crash. Regardless, we can only imagine the relief of Ramesh’s wife and young son when he called them to say he’d survived. All logic says nobody should have been able to survive that crash, much less walk away from it with only superficial injuries. Many have already dubbed Ramesh “the luckiest man in the world”. Though, frankly, after losing his brother and seeing death first-hand, we suspect he doesn’t feel particularly blessed. Here’s hoping Air India provides him with the appropriate psychological counseling to process this.