It is a miracle, says lone survivor of Air India plane crash

The British survivor of the Air India plane crash has said it is a “miracle” he survived but added he feels “terrible” he could not save his brother.

Vishwash Kumar Ramesh told The Sun: “It’s a miracle I survived. I am OK physically but I feel terrible that I could not save Ajay.”

The Air India aircraft struck a medical college hostel in a residential part of Ahmedabad last week, killing 241 of the 242 people on board, 52 of whom were British.

The sole surviving passenger was Mr Ramesh.

The 40-year-old told The Sun he tried to get seats together with his brother but was not able to.

He said: “If we had been sat together we both might have survived.

“I tried to get two seats together but someone had already got one. Me and Ajay would have been sitting together.

“But I lost my brother in front of my eyes. So now I am constantly thinking ‘Why can’t I save my brother?’

Mr Ramesh was in seat 11A, next to one of the aircraft’s emergency exits.

Last week’s crash was one of the deadliest plane accidents in terms of the number of British nationals killed.

Investigators are yet to determine the cause of the crash.

On Tuesday, an Air India flight on the same route as the plane that crashed last week was cancelled because of “precautionary checks”, the airline said.

Air India’s website shows the Flight AI159 was initially delayed by one hour and 50 minutes but was later cancelled.

A flight from Gatwick to Amritsar, India, was also axed.

The cancelled flights were scheduled to be operated by a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which is the same type of aircraft that crashed shortly after take-off at Ahmedabad on June 12.