Vishwas Kumar Ramesh, the lone survivor of the tragic Air India crash in Ahmedabad, was discharged from hospital on Tuesday evening and later took part in the funeral of his brother, who perished in the same accident.
The 40-year-old British businessman from Leicester had been under treatment at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital since 12 June, the day the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed into a medical college complex moments after take-off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.
“Vishwas’ family has already arrived here from the United Kingdom. Following his recovery, we gave discharge to Vishwas at 7.30 pm on Tuesday and his brother's mortal remains were also handed over to the family after a DNA match,” said Dr Rakesh Joshi, Medical Superintendent at the Civil Hospital.
His brother Ajay, who was flying with him, had been identified earlier on Wednesday morning through DNA testing. The brothers, both originally from Diu, had been visiting family in the union territory and were en route back to London via Ahmedabad when tragedy struck.
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According to officials in Diu, Ajay was cremated there on Wednesday morning, and Vishwas attended the ceremony. A video that has since gone viral on social media shows Vishwas carrying his brother’s bier on his shoulders through the narrow lanes of their native town.
A day after the incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Vishwas at the civil hospital and enquired after his health.
Recalling the moments before the crash, Vishwas told Doordarshan that the plane appeared to stall almost immediately after take-off. “Luckily, the portion of the plane where I was seated fell on the ground floor of the hostel premises after the plane crash landed. When I saw that the door of the plane was broken, I told myself that I can try and get out. Eventually, I came out of the plane,” he said.
His seat, 11A, was located near the emergency door on the aircraft’s left flank. A widely shared video captured by a local in the immediate aftermath shows Vishwas walking away from the wreckage, bloodied but alive, before being led to an ambulance.
The ill-fated aircraft had 242 passengers and crew on board and was bound for London’s Gatwick Airport. It crashed just minutes into its flight, turning the medical campus it struck into a disaster zone.
Investigations into the cause of the crash are underway, with both the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and Boeing offering technical assistance.
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