Ahmedabad: Answering, in part, how he miraculously escaped from the burning Air India aircraft on Thursday, survivor Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a British citizen, said he managed to squeeze through a gap between the burning fuselage and the medical college building. He was seated in 11A, next to the emergency exit.
Ramesh said his side of the aircraft did not hit the hostel building, which allowed him to walk away from the wreckage.
“It landed on ground. There was some space on my side. When (the) door broke open, I could find a space and escape. I could not believe that I am alive. My left hand got burnt in the fire but I walked out of the crash site.”
“Initially, I too thought that I was about to die, but then I opened my eyes and realised that I was still alive,” Ramesh told DD News from his hospital bed. Being treated for burns and other injuries, Ramesh said: “Everything happened in front of me, and even I couldn’t believe how I managed to come out alive from that.. Within a minute after takeoff, suddenly… it felt like something got stuck… I realised something had happened, and then suddenly the plane’s green and white lights turned on.”
“For a brief moment, I felt I was about to die but when my eyes opened, I was alive. I unbuckled myself from the seat and exited,” Ramesh said. “It all happened in front of my eyes… In front of my eyes, air hostess and aunties and uncles had perished.”