The only survivor of the Air India crash in June may never return to the UK, his family has revealed. Vishwash Kumar Ramesh was the only person to survive the harrowing incident, which killed 260 people.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner took off from Ahmedabad and was heading for Gatwick, but only got four miles from the runway when it crashed in a patch of grassland, destroying the top two floors of a disused military building. The explosion upon impact ripped through the accommodation of a nearby medical college, killing students in the canteen. After the crash, Ramesh was able to crawl from his seat, where he was taken to hospital and treated. A total of 260 people died – all 12 crew, 229 passengers of the 230 passengers, and 19 people on the ground. This number includes Ramesh’s brother Ajay, 35. Ramesh’s wife, Hiral, and their four-year-old son flew to India while he recovered from his injuries, but they have since returned to Britain.
His brother-in-law suggested to the Mail that the 40-year-old from Leicester is so traumatised that it is unlikely he will return home, saying: “I think he will stay over there because he would be too frightened to get on a plane again.”
His wife told the Times: “I’m not sure when he’s coming back to the UK as his treatment is going on. Everything happened in front of him and the main thing is he lost his brother. He’s not talking to anyone in the media, even in India.”
Relatives have said he reportedly struggles to sleep and suffers nightmares where “everyone dies” and is racked by guilt over his survival and his brother’s death.
An interim report by India’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch said that the plane’s fuel-control switches were moved to the ‘cut-off’ position before take-off – starving the engines.
The aircraft’s voice recorder captured one of the pilots asking the other why he had cut off the fuel supply, to which the other said that he hadn’t.
The Indian agency later issued a statement, following speculation on the causes of the crash, claiming “certain sections of the international media are repeatedly attempting to draw conclusions through selective and unverified reporting”.