'God Gave Me Life, But Took All My Happiness': Air India's Lone Crash Survivor Shares Grief

Last Updated:November 03, 2025, 15:37 IST

For Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, surviving has meant stepping into a new life---one bereft of his brother’s presence and weighed with the question of why me

Vishwas Kumar Ramesh, the sole survivor of the Air India plane crash, during the cremation of his deceased brother Ajay who was flying with him on the same aircraft, in Diu on June 18. (Image: PTI)

The sound of screeching metal groaning and the flash of fire had convinced Vishwash Kumar Ramesh that he was about to die. But destiny had other plans. Ramesh emerged not only alive, but the sole survivor of the Air India Flight AI 171 disaster—only to find that survival delivered him into a new kind of torment.

On June 12, 2025, the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for London’s Gatwick airport crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad. In minutes, at least 240 lives were lost on board—including that of Ramesh’s younger brother—and more on the ground as the aircraft crashed into a hostel building.

Ramesh, who was in the now-famous seat 11A near an emergency exit, described the moment he awoke in an interview with Sky News. “I thought I was going to die … when I opened my eyes and realised I was alive."

Before the hit, he recounted how the lights had flickered, the aircraft seemed to lose power, and then crashed. Miraculously, he found an exit. “I managed to unbuckle myself… used my leg to push through that opening, and crawled out."

As he made his way out, what Ramesh saw still haunts his memory: bodies all around him, passengers and crew alike consumed by flames or trapped in wreckage.

Soon, videos of Ramesh walking away casually from the Air India wreckage went viral. Though branded a miracle for being the lone survivor of the tragedy, Ramesh says the price of surviving has been nearly unbearable. According to the Guardian, he said: “God gave me life but took all my happiness … I lost my brother … my family has completely broken down."

His brother, Ajay Kumar Ramesh, who travelled with him, did not survive—a loss that Kumar says swallowed his own joys. He spends long hours alone, sleepless, weakened not only physically but mentally. “I just stay awake, I sleep maybe three to four hours … yes it’s a miracle I survived, but I lost everything."

For Ramesh, surviving has meant stepping into a new life—one bereft of his brother’s presence and weighed with the question of why me. “He was everything for me. He is like my backbone…. Still, I cannot believe that he is no more (sic.)," Ramesh said.

The survivor guilt and trauma have become Ramesh’s constant companions. Among other things, he has expressed a wish that the airline honour its promise to treat victims “like family".

Ramesh and his brother had poured their entire savings into a fishing venture in India, often travelling back and forth from the UK to keep it running. Since the crash, the business has come to a halt, leaving both their families in the UK and India without any source of income. For them, the loss is not just financial—it’s an existential crisis.

Sky News reported that Air India has offered Ramesh a flat interim payment of £21,500—a one-off sum given to a claimant in advance of reaching the end of a personal injury claim. While he has accepted the amount, Ramesh’s adviser and spokesperson Radd Seiger said the money “doesn’t even touch the sides" when it comes to everything the grief-stricken man needs.

As Ramesh’s physical wounds heal, the deeper scars remain—flashbacks, nightmares, the echo of the plane’s engines failing, the collapse of the building, the cries of the injured. The miracle of survival, he says, has come at the cost of happiness.

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