As relatives of those aboard the Air India flight desperately look for their loved ones at the Civil Hospital, Asarwa in Ahmedabad, on a bed in the general ward lies 40-year-old Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who said he survived the deadly crash.
“Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly,” Vishwash, who received “impact injuries” on his chest, eyes and feet, told the Hindustan Times.
The Gatwick-bound Air India flight – a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner – with 242 people, including crew members, took off at 1.39 pm on Thursday and crashed within minutes, and burst into flames.
Air India said 169 of the 230 passengers were Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian.
“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,” he said.
Vishwash, a British national, was in India for a few days to visit his family and was going back to the UK along with his brother, Ajay Kumar Ramesh, 45.
Vishwash, who still had his boarding pass, told the Hindustan Times, “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.”
Vishwash said he had lived in London for 20 years, adding that his wife and child too live in London.
He said that his brother Ajay was seated in a different row on the plane. “We visited Diu. He was travelling with me and I can’t find him anymore. Please help me find him,” he said.
Elsewhere in the hospital, family and friends of passengers on board the Air India plane looked for their kin.
Among them were family members of former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, who also was on that flight. Sailesh Mandliya, who earlier assisted Rupani, was at the hospital looking for the former chief minister.
“We are looking for him. If you find out something, let me know,” Mandliya told the Hindustan Times. (Hindustan Times)
