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AIR India’s sole crash survivor has nightmares where “everyone dies,” and won’t speak about the horror he went through, his family said.
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, walked away with cuts and chest injuries after the Boeing 787 slammed into a residential building in Ahmedabad, India.
Despite being dubbed the “miracle man” and a “symbol of hope” in the country, the Brit still lies tormented by grief and survivor’s guilt.
His cousin Krunal Keshave, 24, from Leicester, says he manages to sleep, but not properly.
He told The Sunday Times: “When he sleeps, he dreams he is on the flight.
“He remembers seeing everyone die in front of his eyes.”
Vishwash decided to stay in India to recover at his family home in Bucharwada hamlet in Diu, instead of going back to London or Leicester.
He had been sitting in seat 11A, next to an emergency exit, and managed to crawl out through a hole in the twisted wreckage.
His brother Ajay, 35, who was on the opposite side of the aisle in seat 11J, was among the 241 passengers who perished.
“He sees him [Ajay] everywhere,” said Keshave.
“He speaks but he doesn’t speak about the crash. His wife and his son [who is four] are there with him, supporting him.
“He is currently trying to have a normal life, but he is not going out too much.
“He is spending time at home with the family. He was living in the house in Diu with his brother before the crash.”
The miracle survivor previously told The Sun he felt “terrible” that he couldn’t save his brother is racked with remorse over his death.
“Everything was visible in front of my eyes when the crash happened.
“I too thought that I was about to die, but then I opened my eyes and realised that I was still alive,” Vishwash said.
“It’s a miracle I survived. I am OK physically but I feel terrible that I could not save Ajay.
“If we had been sat together we both might have survived. I tried to get two seats together but someone had already got one.”
The pair had been returning to Leicester after the end of the fishing season at their family business in Diu.
Their plan was simple: fly back to the UK on June 12 ahead of the monsoon. But the flight never made it.
Moments after takeoff from Ahmedabad airport, Flight AI171 lost altitude and smashed into a medical college hostel.
A total of 241 passengers and crew plus 19 people on the ground were killed in the tragedy, including 52 Brits.
The crash has become one of the deadliest involving British citizens in recent memory.
Investigators are now zeroing in on a chilling twist in the cockpit.
Flight data examined by U.S. investigators indicates that Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, 56, might have deliberately toggled the plane’s protected fuel cut-off switches. Aviation experts suggest this action could only have been executed on purpose.
An initial report from the black-box recording allegedly documents co-pilot Clive Kunder questioning, “Why did you cut off?”, with Sabharwal responding unsettlingly, “I didn’t.”
But the switches were flipped off one second apart and then turned back on ten seconds later — too late to restart the engines.
It comes after reports the captain made a haunting final remark to a security guard before leaving home on the day of the flight.
In Vishwash’s case, surviving has become its own form of torment.
“He carries the burden of being the sole survivor when everyone else, including his brother, perished. It’s a heavy weight to bear,” a different relative shared with The Sunday Times.
Key findings of Air India preliminary crash report
- Dual engine shutdown – fuel cutoff switches moved from ‘RUN’ to ‘CUTOFF’
- Confusion between pilots – cockpit audio confirms one pilot asked ‘why did you cut off’, the other replied ‘I didn’t’
- RAT deployed – as seen in CCTV footage before the crash, the ram air turbine (RAT) which acts as a backup power source in case of emergencies had deployed
- Engine relight attempted – fuel switches were found returned to ‘RUN’ at crash site
- 32 seconds – the time the aircraft was airborne before it crashed
- Thrust levers mismatch – Thrust levers found at idle but black box data shows takeoff thrust was still engaged
- Fuel test pass – fuel was clean without any contamination
- Normal take-off set-up – Flaps and landing gear correctly configured
- No bird activity – clear skies, good visibility, light winds
- Pilot credentials clear – both medically fit and rested
- No sabotage detected – although FAA alerted over a known fuel switch vulnerability not checked by Air India
- Aircraft loading – the flight was within weight and balance limits
After escaping the burning wreckage, Vishwash reportedly attempted to go back to save his brother.
“My family member is in there, my brother and he’s burning to death. I have to save him,” he pleaded with emergency workers.
Rescuer Satinder Singh Sandhu recalled: “He was very disoriented and shocked and was limping.
“There was also blood on his face, but he was able to speak.
“He told the paramedics that he was flying to London when the plane fell and that he wanted to go back to save his family.”
Doctors who treated him at Ahmedabad’s Civil Hospital said he was stable despite his physical wounds.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited him during his five-day stay in hospital before he was discharged and returned home.
Vishwash has since returned to the family’s coastal village of Diu, where he is trying to recover with the support of his wife Hiral, their young son, and his extended family.
