TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Ramesh Viswashkumar became the sole survivor in the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad on Thursday, June 12, 2025. He was one of the 242 passengers on the plane.
According to police reports, Viswashkumar was sitting near the plane's emergency exit bound for London and managed to jump out when the accident occurred.
As reported by CNA, a doctor at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital identified the man. Meanwhile, India's Home Minister Amit Shah said he met the survivor. The airline stated that Viswashkumar is a British citizen of Indian descent.
"He was disoriented with multiple injuries all over his body," said Dr. Dhaval Gameti, who treated Vishwashkumar, as quoted from the News Asia channel. "But he seems to be out of danger."
Speaking from his hospital bed, the 40-year-old man told the Indian media that he is a British citizen traveling to the UK with his brother after visiting family in India.
"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," Viswashkumar told Hindustan Times.
It is unclear whether Viswashkumar managed to jump out before the plane hit the ground.
Other medical staff said Viswashkumar told them that shortly after the plane took off, it started to descend and suddenly split in two, throwing him out before a loud explosion.
Social media footage aired on Indian news channels showed a man in a blood-stained white shirt and dark trousers limping along a road and being helped by a medic.
The man had bruises on his face and a beard, resembling the post-accident photos of Viswashkumar published by local media.
Viswashkumar's boarding pass photo displayed online by Hindustan Times shows that he was seated in seat 11A on the flight to Gatwick Airport.
He told the newspaper that his brother, Ajay, was seated in a different row on the plane and asked for help to find him.
"He was near the emergency exit and managed to escape by jumping out the emergency door," said Vidhi Chaudhary, a senior police officer in Ahmedabad, speaking about Viswashkumar.
A family member of Viswashkumar living in the UK, who requested anonymity, told Reuters by phone that he survived and that his family is still in touch with him, but refused to provide further details.
Ajay Valgi, Viswashkumar's cousin living in Leicester, central England, told the BBC that Viswashkumar spoke on the phone to confirm he was okay.
"He only said that he was fine, nothing else," Valgi said.
Valgi said his family had not heard anything about his brother. "We're not doing well. We're all upset," he said.
Viswashkumar is married and has a son.
Viswashkumar's brother, Nayan Kumar Ramesh, told Sky News that his brother called their father shortly after the accident to say he was safe.
"He video called my dad as he crashed and said, ‘Oh the plane’s crashed. I don’t know where my brother is. I don’t see any other passengers. I don’t know how I’m alive, how I exited the plane’," he told Sky.
The Air India plane crashed in a residential area, hitting a medical college hostel outside the airport during lunchtime, in the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade.
Over 240 people died in the crash. Among the dead were several people outside the plane. Police said the previously shared death toll of 294 people was incorrect, as some body parts were counted twice.
Police said Viswashkumar is the only known surviving passenger, but added that the rescue operation is still ongoing.
"Chances are that there might be more survivors among the injured who are being treated in the hospital," said Chaudhary.
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