A British survivor walked away from the Air India flight that crashed into a ball of flames moments after take-off, killing more than 290 people.
Footage filmed shortly after the crash showed a bloodied Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, from London, limping down the street towards an ambulance.
The sole survivor was later pictured lying in the hospital with cuts across his face shortly after the London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plunged into a suburb in the western city of Ahmedabad.
“It all happened so quickly,” Mr Ramesh, who sustained injuries to his face, chest and feet, said. It is not clear how he survived, but parts of the plane appeared to be intact after the crash.
“When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me,” he told the Hindustan Times from hospital.
Police said the survivor was sitting in seat 11A, which corresponds with the flight manifest naming Mr Ramesh.
Some 53 Britons were thought to have been on board the flight to Gatwick. More than 290 people were killed in the crash, police said.
Mr Ramesh was returning to the UK after visiting family for a few days with his brother, who was sitting in a different row. “I can’t find him any more,” he said.
Air India said 169 Indian nationals, seven Portuguese and one Canadian were also among the 242 on board. Eleven passengers were children.
Mobile phone footage showed the plane flying low over the city before hitting the ground and bursting into flames. Indian police said the jet struck a hostel that was used by local doctors.
Part of the plane’s fuselage was seen sticking out from the building, and plumes of thick black smoke could be seen rising over the city.
Raju Prajapati, who lives just a few hundred metres from the crash site, told The Telegraph:
“We heard a huge explosion and rushed out of our homes. There were thick plumes of black smoke rising into the sky. People were shouting and running in all directions.” He said the smoke remained visible more than a mile away.
The cause of the crash is unclear. Boeing has been involved in a series of incidents in recent years, including fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019, but the Dreamliner has never crashed in 14 years of service.
The plane’s pilot, Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, is described as highly experienced with 8,200 hours of flying experience.
According to air traffic control at Ahmedabad airport, the airliner took off at 1.39pm local time (9.09am BST) from runway 23.
It gave a ‘mayday’ call, signalling an emergency, but there was no response from the aircraft thereafter.
The crash threatens to be one of the single worst losses of life of Britons in a plane crash. Fifty-four British citizens died when Pan Am flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie en route to the US in 1988.
Sir Keir Starmer said: “The scenes emerging of a London-bound plane carrying many British nationals crashing in the Indian city of Ahmedabad are devastating.
“I am being kept updated as the situation develops, and my thoughts are with the passengers and their families at this deeply distressing time.”
