Air India plane crash: Who is the sole survivor of flight AI171?
PM Narendra Modi visits British survivor of India’s worst air disaster
DUBAI: The only passenger to survive the deadly crash of Air India flight AI171 has been identified as Ramesh Viswashkumar, a 40-year-old British citizen of Indian origin from Leicester.
Viswashkumar had been travelling with his brother on the London-bound flight when it crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad on Wednesday, killing more than 290 people.
Viswashkumar, who works in sales, had flown to Gujarat to visit family. He had originally been due to return to the UK on 8 June but postponed his travel plans. That fateful decision placed him aboard AI171 on Wednesday afternoon. Seated in row 11, near an emergency exit, he was reportedly travelling in business class with his brother, Ajay, who remains unaccounted for.
‘There were bodies all around me’
In an account given from his hospital bed, Viswashkumar described how he was thrown forward when the aircraft hit the building. “When I got up, there were bodies all around me,” he told local reporters. With the cabin filling with smoke and fire, he managed to stand and head toward the emergency exit.
Amid the tragedy of the Air India plane crash, a remarkable story emerges: Vishwashkumar Ramesh, a British national from Leicester seated in 11A, was the sole survivor, escaping with only minor scratches. #AI171 #AirIndia #AirIndiaPlaneCrash pic.twitter.com/DK2nN74vo6
— City Mirror (@citymirrorKE) June 12, 2025
Police say he was fortunate to be near the exit door and was able to open it and jump clear of the wreckage just as flames engulfed the fuselage.
Amid all the horror of the Air India plane crash, this story of British national Vishwashkumar Ramesh from Leicester, who was in seat 11a, being the sole survivor and walking away with just a few scratches, is truly astonishing. pic.twitter.com/8py9Rssf0d
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) June 12, 2025
Eyewitnesses filmed him moments later: disoriented, bloodied and limping along a nearby road. Viswashkumar later told Indian media he fled into a passing ambulance and blacked out, only regaining consciousness in hospital.
#WATCH | Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets the lone survivor of yesterday's #AirIndiaPlaneCrash.
— ANI (@ANI) June 13, 2025
241 of 242 who were onboard the plane lost their lives.
(Source - DD) pic.twitter.com/tVXoscmOPE
Road to recovery
Viswashkumar is being treated for leg and chest injuries at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital. Doctors say his condition is stable. A family member in the UK told the BBC that he called home to say he was “fine,” but was too traumatised to speak at length. Meanwhile, his wife and young son have been informed and are reportedly flying to India to be by his side.
The family continues to search for news of his brother, Ajay Viswashkumar, who was seated several rows away. “We’re not doing well. We’re all upset,” Ajay Valgi, a cousin in Leicester, told reporters.
While officials investigate what caused the crash, the survival of Ramesh Viswashkumar has offered a small glimmer of hope in an otherwise devastating tragedy.