A doctor treating the sole survivor of Thursday's Air India plane crash said he is recovering well after walking away from the deadly disaster with only bruises and burns.
British citizen Vishwashkumar Ramesh is believed to have been thrown clear of the aircraft before it was engulfed in flames in Ahmedabad, western India.
But he has told doctors he still cannot understand how he emerged from the scene of devastation.
He was the only one of 242 passengers – which included his older brother Ajay – to survive when the London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed shortly after take-off.
Dr Rajnish Patel, head of surgery at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, told The National that Mr Ramesh is in a stable condition and will be kept under observation for a few days.
He spoke of the mental trauma facing the patient, as he grapples with the loss of his brother and the enormity of the ordeal he came through.
“He is recovering well. He has some bruises on the left side of his face and burns on the left shoulder but otherwise he is stable,” said Dr Patel. “He was limping but he has no bone injuries.”
Mr Ramesh, from Leicester, central England, was seated in 11A near the emergency exit of the aircraft, according to information pieced together by medics, police and volunteers who helped get him to safety.
Post-traumatic amnesia
He told doctors he still had his seat belt on and appears to have been thrown out of the Air India plane bound for London’s Gatwick Airport.
“He said at one point he was in his seat, the second moment the plane fell, then he was unconscious and when he recovered he was outside,” Dr Patel said.
“He does not have a clear idea of how he got out. But he does remember he was still in his seat and that when the plane crashed he was outside the plane in his seat with the seat belt still on.
“He said he took out the seat belt and walked away. He walked a very short distance and then there was a blast.”
The doctor said it was natural for patients battling trauma to blank terrifying memories.
“He said he was surrounded by dead bodies,” Dr Patel said. “It’s a case of severe post-traumatic amnesia so his story may change. This is common for people who have suffered such a massive trauma. After some time he may recollect everything.”
Mr Ramesh and his brother Ajay were travelling home to their family in Leicester.
“He does know that his brother who was seated behind did not survive, he knows he is the only survivor,” Dr Patel said.
“We tell him, ‘you are stable, it’s a miracle, you are lucky’ and he accepts this. But yes, this will leave a deep impact.”
Mr Ramesh will be discharged in a few days, after he is cleared by doctors and legal formalities are completed.
His family in Gujarat arrived at the hospital soon after the news broke.
Investigation begins
Mobile phone footage taken by witnesses at the accident site shows Mr Ramesh walking unsteadily as people ask him about other passengers. He replies in Hindi: “They are all inside.”
Mr Ramesh has described the devastating scene to Indian media.
“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. Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital,” he told The Hindustan Times newspaper.
Doctors at the hospital also treated medical students from the state-run BJ Medical College hostel that the plane crashed into.
Video footage showed the plane taxiing off the runway, gaining height before quickly dropping, flying low and then hitting the ground in a residential neighbourhood before bursting into flames.
Air India said of the 242 people on board Flight 171, including two pilots and 10 cabin crew, there were 169 passengers from India, 53 from Britain, seven from Portugal and one from Canada.
Air India owner Tata Sons said “no words can adequately express the grief”. It has pledged to pay one crore rupees ($133,600) to the family of each person who died.
Boeing has said it is ready to support the investigation led by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau.
India’s Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said the probe would be in line with international protocols set up by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
