Vishwash Kumar Rameh, the only survivor
A Tragedy in the Skies: The Air India Flight A171 Disaster and Its Global Reverberations
In a
harrowing moment that has shaken the aviation world, Air India Flight A171 crashed
shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad on June 12,
2025, claiming the lives of 274 people,
including 33 on the ground. It is now
considered one of the deadliest aviation disasters in India’s history—and the
first fatal crash involving a Boeing 787 Dreamliner since the aircraft’s debut in 2011.
Among the
wreckage and heartbreak emerged a single beacon of survival: 40-year-old British citizen Vishwash Kumar Ramesh,
the only survivor
of the doomed flight. Traveling with his brother, Ramesh recalled cabin lights flickering moments
before the aircraft lost altitude. Sitting in seat 11A, near an emergency exit,
he managed a miraculous escape as the plane plunged into a doctors’ hostel at
B. J. Medical College.
A Catastrophic Descent
The aircraft went down less than a minute into flight, failing to gain altitude and crashing into a densely populated area where victims were gathered for lunch. The scene was one of collapsed structures, rising smoke, and devastation that extended beyond the aircraft itself.