“Luckiest Man Alive”: Air India Crash Survivor Shares His Heartbreaking Story
It’s being called one of the most tragic air disasters in recent years — the Air India Flight 171 crash that claimed 241 lives in June. But amid the wreckage and flames, one man walked away alive. His name is Viswashkumar Ramesh , and he says he feels like the “luckiest man alive,” though that luck, he admits, came at an unbearable cost.
The 39-year-old from Leicester, UK, was the sole survivor when the London-bound Boeing 787 went down shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad, India. The crash not only killed every other passenger and crew member on board, but also took the life of Ramesh’s younger brother, Ajay, who had been sitting just a few seats away. “It’s a miracle that I survived,” he said, his voice trembling. “But I lost everything. My brother was my backbone.”
Ramesh’s survival story is almost impossible to comprehend. He was seated in 11A, right next to an emergency exit, which became his only escape. Somehow, through the smoke and chaos, he managed to unbuckle himself, crawl out of the broken fuselage, and stumble into daylight. In videos taken at the scene, he can be seen walking away from the wreckage, dazed, as the aircraft burned behind him.
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Since then, life has been nothing short of a nightmare. Ramesh has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) , and the psychological wounds seem even deeper than the physical ones. “Every day is painful,” he said softly. “I can’t sleep. I keep getting flashbacks. I sit alone in my room. I can’t talk to my wife or my little boy. I just think about my brother.”
The physical injuries also linger — pain in his leg, shoulder, and back has made even walking difficult. The fishing business he ran with Ajay in India has collapsed, and his family, both in the UK and in Diu, is struggling to recover emotionally and financially.
Ramesh’s advisers and supporters, including community leader Sanjiv Patel and spokesman Radd Seiger, have called for Air India to take greater responsibility, urging its executives to meet the victims’ families face-to-face. They say the interim compensation of £21,500 offered to Ramesh is nowhere near enough to support him or his grieving relatives. “This family is in crisis — mentally, physically, and financially,” Patel said. “They deserve more than money. They deserve humanity.”
Investigators have since reported that the aircraft’s engines lost power after fuel supply was mysteriously cut off seconds after takeoff. The investigation is still ongoing, but for Ramesh, no report can undo what’s been lost.
“I’m alive,” he says quietly, “but I’m broken inside. God gave me life, but He took all my happiness.”
It’s a haunting reminder that survival doesn’t always mean escape — sometimes, it means carrying the weight of everything and everyone left behind.
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