Ahmedabad, June 13 – In a devastating tragedy that claimed 241 lives, only one passenger survived the crash of Air India’s Dreamliner flight AI171 on Thursday near Ahmedabad. That survivor, British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 45, was seated on seat 11A—an economy class window seat located beside an emergency exit.
The ill-fated Boeing 787-8 aircraft, commonly known as the Dreamliner, was en route from Ahmedabad to London with 242 people onboard, including 12 crew members. According to the seat map of Air India’s B787-8 configuration, seat 11A is part of the first row in the economy section and is adjacent to an emergency exit, which may have played a crucial role in Ramesh’s miraculous survival.
While it is too early to determine the exact reason for his escape, proximity to the emergency exit likely gave him a critical advantage in evacuating the burning aircraft. The aircraft reportedly caught fire after crashing into the premises of a medical college shortly after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.
Air India currently operates 27 Dreamliners, each configured with 238 economy and 18 business class seats. The airline has plans to retrofit the fleet in the coming months with upgraded features.
As per agency report, Air India has officially confirmed the deaths of 241 passengers and crew members aboard the AI171 flight. The passengers included 169 Indian nationals, 53 British citizens, seven Portuguese nationals, and one Canadian.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who visited the crash site and later met with Ramesh at Ahmedabad’s Civil Hospital, remarked, “The only good news in this horrific tragedy is that one person survived.”
The extraordinary survival of the lone passenger amid such catastrophic loss has drawn widespread attention, with experts and authorities expected to investigate further into how this rare escape occurred.
