The pain of the tragic Air India crash in Ahmedabad was reignited when the sole survivor, an Indian-origin British national, recalled the hardships he has been facing after miraculously walking away from seat number 11A of the crashed aircraft.
Vishwaskumar Ramesh was the only person to escape the ill-fated Air India flight that claimed 241 lives. In an interview with the BBC News, he opened up about his painful journey since the tragedy – torn between gratitude for being alive and grief over everything he lost.
Though Ramesh walked away from the wreckage of the London-bound Boeing 787 in Ahmedabad, he still cannot comprehend how he survived. “I'm only one survivor. Still, I'm not believing. It's a miracle,” he told BBC.
The crash, which occurred just seconds after take-off in June, killed 169 Indian nationals, 52 British, and 19 people on the ground. The preliminary investigation by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau found that fuel supply to the engines had been cut off moments after take-off.
The sight of Ramesh stumbling away from the smoking wreckage while flames engulfed the aircraft in the backdrop is still fresh in everyone's memory. The horrifying footage made headlines globally.
{{/usCountry}}The sight of Ramesh stumbling away from the smoking wreckage while flames engulfed the aircraft in the backdrop is still fresh in everyone's memory. The horrifying footage made headlines globally.
{{/usCountry}}But survival, Ramesh said, came at an unbearable cost. His younger brother Ajay, who was sitting just a few seats away, didn’t make it.
"I lost my brother as well. My brother is my backbone. Last few years, he was always supporting me," the English news outlet quoted him as saying.
Despite being hailed as the “luckiest man alive,” his life has since been marked by isolation and anguish.
‘I just sit in my room alone’
Since returning to his home in Leicester, Ramesh has been battling severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the report added. His advisers say he has been unable to speak to his wife or four-year-old son.
"Now I'm alone. I just sit in my room alone, not talking with my wife, my son. I just like to be alone in my house," he told BBC, his voice trembling.
Recalling the physical toll, the 39-year-old said that he still suffers pain in his leg, shoulder, knee, and back. “When I walk, not walk properly, slowly, slowly, my wife help,” he said.
‘Every day is painful for the whole family’
The trauma has seeped through his entire family. “Physically, mentally, also my family as well, mentally... my mum last four months, she is sitting every day outside the door, not talking, nothing,” Ramesh shared, BBC reported.
"I can't talk about much. I'm thinking all night, I'm suffering mentally. Every day is painful for the whole family," he added.
As investigations into the Air India tragedy continue, the airline has said that care for Ramesh and the families of those who perished “remains our absolute priority.” For Ramesh, however, healing feels distant.