The Air India crash has been a heartbreaking tragedy. Only one person from the 244 on board managed to survive.
Plane crashes, unfortunately, occur every now and then. A survivor from a previous one noticed an eerie similarity he had with this crash.
Keep reading to know more.
A Thai singer saw the Air India crash and was reminded of his own horrible experience on a flight in 1998. Ruangsak Loychusak, now 47 years old, was onboard Thai Airways’ ill-fated flight TG261, travelling from Bangkok to Surat Thani.
The flight at the time stalled and then plunged into a swamp as it attempted to land. There were 132 passengers and 14 crew members on board, of whom 101 lost their lives, and 45 were injured.
Ruangsak remembers the tragedy very well and revealed how he got ‘goosebumps’ when he saw the sole person to survive the tragedy was Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who was sitting in seat 11A.
“The lone survivor of the plane crash in India was sitting in the same seat number as me, 11A”, Mr Loychusak said.
“I want to offer my condolences to all those who lost loved ones in the tragedy,” he went on.
While he did not have his ticket any longer, he said the news at the time reported his seat number as well, and it is of course, a fact he is not going to forget.
Mr Ruangsak described how after the accident he got a ‘second life.’
“I had difficulty flying for 10 years after the crash. I would struggled breathing, even though the air circulation was normal,” he shared.
“I avoided speaking to anyone and always stared outside the window, blocking anyone from closing it to maintain my sense of safety,” he shared.
“If I saw dark clouds or a rainstorm outside, I would feel terrible, like I was in hell,” he says of his anxiety.
“I can still remember the sounds, smells, and even the taste of the water in the swamp the plane crashed into. For a long time, I would keep the feelings to myself,” he shared of his own experience.
The Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed soon after it took off on Thursday. The plane that was bound for London’s Gatwick airport never made it fully into the air.
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, from Leicester, England, was the only survivor from the tragedy. Ramesh shared his story with the media, saying how the plane suddenly split in two and ejected him after which he hard a loud explosion.
Dr. Dhaval Gameti, who treated Ramesh, said that while he was understandably disoriented and had injuries all over his body, he “seems to be out of danger.”
As for Ramesh, he was still in disbelief over how he lived. He said, “I don’t know how I came out of it alive.”
“For a while, I thought I was about to die. But when I opened my eyes, I saw I was alive. And I opened my seatbelt and got out of there,’ adding how two cabin crew members ‘died before my eyes.”
His seat, 11A, was next to the emergency door, which he shared came off when the plane crashed and made impact.
He shared that minutes after takeoff, it felt like the plane had gotten “stuck.” He shared that the pilots tried to raise the jet, but instead it “went full speed and crashed into the building.”
He said that the plane immediately caught fire and as a result Ramesh suffered burns on his arm.
Footage of Ramesh hobbling away from the plane crash site went viral. Soon after he was rushed to a hospital for treatment.
His brother was also on the flight, and is presumed to be among the dead. He recalled the horrific moment he realized what was happening. “When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran.”
He was immensely confused, “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.”
This was a truly heartbreaking tragedy to witness. Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by this horrible event.
