Nobody saw it coming. It was a clear and bright sky, when a Air India Flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for London Gatwick took off from the runway of Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Airport.
But in just seconds after taking off, the plane tragically crashed.
The huge metal and bolt commercial air transport crashed at a hostel next to B.J. Medical College, sparking a deadly inferno. Among the 242 people aboard—230 passengers and 12 crew—died. At least 38 people on the ground also lost their lives
One person however, survived.
Against all odds, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a 40-year-old British-Irish national, seated in 11A—an exit-row window seat—emerged as the sole survivor of the deadly crash.
"Everything happened in front of my eyes… The side where I was seated fell into the ground floor of the building… I opened my eyes, I saw I was alive… ," he said.
When the plane ascended, Vishwash didn't expect anything to happen in the next few seconds.
Unknown to all aboard, to its doom, the crew issued a Mayday call: “thrust not achieved”, hinting at possible engine failure
Preliminary data suggests the aircraft reached about 625 feet, then stalled during climb—with landing gear still down—before descending into the building.
As the plane crashed, Vishwash was lucky because the fuselage near his seat remained partially intact, and that the emergency exit door next to him had ruptured open.
Vishwash managed to unbuckle and crawl to safety before the wreck burst into flames.
It all happened in just a few seconds, and the man miraculously walked out with just a few wounds.
The world watched in stunned disbelief.
The phrase “miracle of seat 11A” went viral online, with global media like BBC, The Guardian, Hindustan Times, Reuters, and Washington Post spotlighting Vishwash’s narrow escape.
While the black boxes retrieved and investigation ongoing, the internet's social media sphere becomes occupied with sad stories of Air India Flight 171 unfortunate occupants.
Among the victims, include a newly engaged young British-Indian couple returning home to Leicester, just days after their proposal.
The unpredictable survival of Vishwash shows the nature of air disasters.
Whereas seat 11A will forever be etched in aviation lore as the place where a single person survived amidst overwhelming loss, survival in a crash is never assured by seat numbers alone.
No seat guarantees safety.
If the plane crashed in just a few degree impact distance, a few meters short or further, or at a different speed or altitude, things could've been different.
From mechanical failure, human factors, or environmental issues , miracle can happen.
This tragedy is a sober reminder that behind statistics are lives—families, dreams, communities. The outpouring of support from the internet shows how connected the world feels, even across distances.
