THIS is the heartbreaking moment the miracle Brit lone survivor of the Air India crash carries his brother’s coffin at the funeral.
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, managed to walk away from the plane moments before it exploded, while all the other 241 people onboard, including his brother Ajay, perished.
Footage shows Vishwash walking solemnly at the rear of the coffin with visible cuts and bruises, surrounded by other pallbearers.
The battered Brit has plasters on his face and walks with a limp as he holds the casket at the ceremony in Gujarat – where the crash happened.
There is a constant commotion around the procession, but Vishwash appears lost in his own thoughts.
The tragic parade made its way through the streets less than a week after the plane came down.
Vishwash has been in hospital for most of that time recovering from his ordeal – and was even visited by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He was sitting in 11A, a window seat next to an emergency exit, which enabled him to escape the Boeing 787 when it crashed shortly after takeoff. He was later captured on film as he walked into the street.
Ajay was at the far end of the same row on the other side of the aisle – seat 11J.
Vishwash’s family from Leicester – including his wife and son – have flown out to India to be with him.
An incredible video surface this week of Vishwash heading back to the blazing wreck in an attempt to rescue his brother.
He was captured walking unsteadily towards the blazing students’ hostel as black smoke billowed in the sky.
Family members revealed recently that he was recovering well.
Cousin Hiren said: “He is getting better day by day.
“Relatives have been to see him and he was able to speak to his son by phone yesterday on Father’s Day.”
Speaking soon after the incident, Vishwash told Hindustan Times: “Just thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise, and then the plane crashed. It all happened so fast.”
He said: “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.”
A relative back in England said Vishwash called home on the day of the crash to say he was “fine” and had “no idea” how he escaped alive.
Another revealed that his main concern when speaking to his dad had been the welfare of his brother, asking: “Where’s Ajay?”
Vishwash’s death-cheating escape has baffled the world, and aviation experts have weighed in with theories on how he managed to survive the “unsurvivable”.
Former senior crash investigator, Tony Cable, told the Guardian that the position in which the jet came to rest may have helped Vishwash escape.
He explained: “The aircraft was pretty nose up when it hit the buildings.
“It has presumably broken open in an area of the fuselage adjacent to this guy and fortuitously he has popped out without major injury.”
Another expert also emphasised the importance of Vishwash’s seat position.
Engineering safety professor John McDermid said the choice may have won the lucky Brit more time to escape.
Seat 11A is on the left side of the aircraft’s body, right next to an emergency door, and has extra leg room because it is the first row of economy seats behind business class.
And this specific location on board the plane may have meant that Vishwash was given seconds more to get out of the burning jet.
Other passengers sat in regular seats may have been crushed on impact due to their proximity to the seats in front of them, according to the expert.
Professor McDermid also said: ” My suspicion is that because of the nature of the impact, he was in a strong part of the airplane at the front edge of the wing.
“There is not just the fuselage, but the extra structure of the wing to protect from the compression of the fuselage.”
He added, highlighting the importance of seat 11A: “It’s possible that the impact loosened the door and he could kick it out and get out.
“The external door was only just in front of him so he didn’t have far to go.”
Another analyst doubled down on the seat’s crucial location within the jet.
Fire evacuation expert professor Ed Galea said: “The fact that anyone has survived is miraculous.”
But he put Vishwash’s fortune down the seats proximity to the emergency exit.
