This Is How The Sole Survivor Of Air India Flight AI-171 Escaped -

(MENAFN- Newsroom Panama) In the cockpit of Air India flight AI-171 on June 12, 2025, normalcy vanished in seconds. The London-Gatwick-bound plane with 242 people on board appeared to stall in mid-air just after takeoff, recalls Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the sole survivor of what is already one of the country's worst air tragedies. During that pause in the sky, green and white lights flashed, indicating a possible recovery attempt, before the plane accelerated again for a climb that would never be completed. But instead of gaining altitude, the plane crashed into a medical student dormitory near the airport, killing 241 passengers and crew, as well as at least 27 people on the ground, and causing profound shock in India and around the world. “Right after takeoff, I felt the plane stall for five or ten seconds.

And then a green and white light came on,” he told the cameras of the Indian state channel DD News. Ramesh, from his stretcher at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, displayed a stricken but calm demeanor as he shared details of his experience with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the disaster site. “Everything happened before my eyes. I can't even believe I survived, because for a moment I thought I was going to die. When I opened my eyes, I realized I was alive, tried to undo my seatbelt, and I succeeded. Before my eyes, the flight attendants and other people were dead,” he explained from the hospital.

The survivor, a British citizen of Indian origin, claimed he landed on the ground floor of the university building where the plane crashed and was able to escape because there was an open space next to him. “On the other side was the wall of the building, which is probably why others couldn't escape,” he said. In the attempt to escape from the aircraft, Kumar suffered burns to his left hand.“The fire burned my hand. Afterward, an ambulance took me here to the hospital,” he added. On Friday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the survivor and toured the crash site, while work continues to recover wreckage and search for the black boxes. Authorities have begun a complex process of identifying the victims through DNA testing.

MENAFN13062025000218011062ID1109671491