THE Brit survivor of the Air India disaster may have been saved by an emergency exit door that flew off as the plane crashed.
A shocking video captured the dramatic moment when the Boeing Dreamliner crashed in Ahmedabad, showing a mysterious object spinning away just before the plane erupted into flames.
Vishwash Ramesh, 40, managed to survive the catastrophic smash into a doctors’ hostel in west India which killed more than 265 people.
Speculation is mounting that the only survivor may have escaped due to a piece of the plane’s fuselage that was seen flying in the footage.
Follow our live blog here…
The plane was heading to London Gatwick when it crashed just moments after take-off.
Vishwash was seated in 11A, directly beside the emergency exit, which reportedly detached when the aircraft hit the building and subsequently burst into flames.
In the unbelievable footage, a tiny object is seen flying away for a split second – right before the jet is engulfed in flames.
Investigators continue to analyse the footage and search for the mystery piece of debris as they try to find out what caused the horror crash.
Moments before the passengers and crew on board the plane died, the pilot of Air India Flight AI171 issued a frantic mayday call saying the plane was “losing power”.
And seconds before the plane blew up into a huge ball of flames, the object can be seen flying away from the aircraft’s body.
Vishwash somehow managed to cheat death, but his brother Ajaykumar, 35, who was on the same flight on seat 11J, is believed to have died.
The London local detailed how he survived the catastrophic smash into the doctors’ hostel when speaking with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He aid: “Everything happened in front of me and I couldn’t believe how I had come out alive.
“I thought for a second that I was going to die. But when I opened my eyes, I realised I was alive.”
When asked how he managed to survive the devastating crash, Vishwash said: “I can’t explain.
“Everything happened in [front of] my eyes.”
He explained how he “tried to slip out” when the jet’s door blew out following the crash which caused the plane to burst into a huge fireball.
He walked out through the rubble after escaping via what is believed to be the blown off emergency door.
He said: “When the flight took off, within 5 to 10 seconds it felt like it was stuck in the air.
“Suddenly, the lights started flickering – green and white – then the plane rammed into some establishment that was there.”
He said while the plane was taking off, “it felt like maybe [the pilot] suddenly accelerated”.
But it quickly “went down to the hostel from there at high speed” just moments after becoming airborne.
“I saw everything,” he claimed.
The London resident of 20 years said that he wasn’t sitting on the side of the plane which initially smashed into the hostel.
Fortunate Vishwash speculated: “I think the side I was on was not facing the hostel. I don’t know about others.
“I don’t know how I survived. I saw people dying in front of my eyes – the air hostesses, and two people I saw near me… I walked out of the rubble.”
Recalling the moment he managed to escape the terrifying inferno, he said: “The door [near me] broke off and I tried to slip out.”
Theorists are now speculating that the flying piece of debris was what allowed Vishwash to slip out in the nick of time.
“The opposite side of the plane hit the wall. That’s why others could not get out,” he added.
He said: “At first, I thought I was dead.”
It comes after a separate Air India flight was forced to make an emergency landing after a bomb threat – just hours after the horror Ahmedabad plane crash.
Flight AI379 was travelling from Phuket, Thailand, to India‘s capital New Delhi – before it suddenly landed again after an explosion warning, according to authorities.
