The journey from India to London with Air India flight, being a routine trip to some and a dream come true to others, became a tragedy for 242 people on the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, where all passengers and crew members, along with 70 people in the neighborhood where it landed, lost their lives in the crash.

The Air India plane crashed 17 seconds after takeoff from the Ahmedabad airport runway on Thursday, June 12, 2025.

Air India crash sole survivor Viswash Kumar Ramesh, 38, was one of 242 people on the 787-8 Dreamliner that went down shortly after takeoff in Ahmedabad, India. Ramesh is the only survivor of the India plane crash that killed 242 people on board and 70 people in the building where it landed.

Medicine College Building Air India Crashed
Medicine College Building Air India Crashed
Media reports describe Ramesh as a ‘miracle’ survivor because he was reported to have somehow walked away to the ambulance from the plane crash scene.

According to reports, the plane had 17 seconds from takeoff to crashing. While Ramesh’s flight ticket clearly shows he was seated at seat number 11A, which coincidentally is where the emergency exit door of the plane is located. Ramesh has been appraised by eyewitnesses to have cheated death.

An eyewitness said only the passenger in seat 11A on Air India Flight 171 lived to tell the tale, a survival nothing short of a miracle.

The Air India plane with 242 people onboard crashed into a building moments after taking off from the international airport in Ahmedabad. It burst into flames. The impact, heat, and smoke were so intense, officials said, that escape was impossible, except for Ramesh, whose escape has been attributed to unlikely circumstances.

In the hours after the crash, grainy footage of a man with wounds on his face and blood on his shirt went viral on social media. He walked himself to an ambulance with a slight limp and told a crowd around him that he had come “from inside” the plane.

Mr. Ramesh’s story initially appeared too good to be true; the crash was so severe that the bodies of most victims were charred beyond recognition, officials said. But by late evening, Air India confirmed that there had been one survivor, who was getting treatment at the hospital. Amit Shah, India’s home minister, said he had visited the survivor, and Indian media ran photos of Mr. Shah standing at Mr. Ramesh’s bedside.

“I still can’t believe how I got out alive,” Mr. Ramesh said on Friday in an interview from his hospital bed with India’s state broadcaster, Doordarshan. “I thought I was also about to die.”

Mr. Ramesh said the plane had felt “stuck five or 10 seconds after takeoff,” and it seemed to be trying to accelerate when it crashed.

The front of the plane, after hitting buildings, crashed into an open area, he said, while the tail was stuck in a building, which was later identified as the dining facility of a medical college.

Mr. Ramesh said he unbuckled his seatbelt after the crash when he saw a chance for escape. He did not make clear whether he had to open the emergency exit he was sitting next to or if the impact had caused it to open.

“When my door broke, I saw there was some space — that I could try to get out,” he said in the interview. “On the other side, people couldn’t get out, as it was crushed against a wall.”

Mr. Ramesh, who is a British citizen, was returning to England after vacationing in India along with his brother Ajay, their younger brother Nayan said. Ajay, who the passenger list showed was seated in 11J on the right side of the plane, did not survive.

Shortly after the crash, Mr. Ramesh made a video call from near the wreckage to his family in Leicester to confirm he was safe, the younger brother said. The family home there was a scene of both mourning for Ajay and stunned amazement that Viswash had somehow walked away.

Another heartbreaking Air India passenger story is that of Pratik Joshi, who had been living in London for six years. He is a software professional and had long dreamed of building a life abroad for his wife and three young children, who stayed back in India.

After years of waiting for due clearances, the dream was finally coming true. Just two days ago, his wife, Dr. Komi Vyas, a renowned doctor in Udaipur, resigned from her job. The bags were packed, goodbyes were said, and the future was within reach.

This morning, the family of five, filled with hope and excitement, boarded Air India flight 171 to London. They clicked a selfie and sent it to relatives. It was a one-way journey to a new life. But they never made it. The plane crashed. No one survived.

In a matter of moments, a lifetime of dreams turned to ash. It was a brutal reminder that life is terrifyingly fragile. Everything you build, everything you hope for, everything you love—it all hangs by a thread. So while you can, live, love, and don’t wait for happiness to start tomorrow.

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