Just how DID the Air India passenger ‘survive the unsurvivable'?  Aviation experts weigh on miracle Brit Vishwash Ramesh

WHEN Air India Flight AI171 crashed in Ahmedabad and blazed up into a huge fireball, many believed that no one would have survived.
But after video emerged of 40-year-old Brit Vishwash Ramesh stumbling away from the crash site on his own two feet, puzzled experts rushed to theorise how he narrowly avoided death.
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The Brit staggered away from the wreckage relatively unscathed
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Vishwash Ramesh in hospital, visited by Indian PM Narendra Modi
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It then crashed in a fireball at a doctor's hostel
13
Investigators are scrambling to figure out what went so wrong with the plane
Many were also shocked to see the
Crash analysts from around the world have now weighed in on how they think the miracle survivor managed to cheat certain death.
Vishwash was on seat 11A when the
The Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 "came to a standstill mid-air" according to sole
survivor
Vishwash, and then
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Investigators are still combing over footage and evidence to uncover what exactly caused the crash.
But experts are also trying to dissect Vishwash's story - and are attempting to theorise how he
Vishwash himself told local media that he was able to push open the plane's fuselage by the emergency door and get out before the plane blew up.
It is currently unclear whether the opening Vishwash "slipped out" of was the emergency door or a rupture in the aircraft's fuselage.
Most read in The Sun
But aerospace and aviation professor Graham Braithwaite speculated the lucky Brit may have actually been flung out of the wreckage.
He said: "The aircraft was loaded with fuel and it crashed into a heavily populated area.
'I opened my eyes & slipped out'…Brit sole survivor of Air India crash details escape
"I can only imagine that he was thrown from the wreckage, and that somehow as it crashed, what it hit managed to absorb some of the impact."
He added: "Looking at the scene, I would imagine that the disruption to the aircraft would have been huge.
"If anybody could have got out, then they probably could have just gone out in a gap in the fuselage - you'd struggle to infer from this, therefore, that is the seat you must always sit in."
The expert also said that surviving a crash like this was more a matter of being lucky about where a passenger is sat.
Meanwhile, former senior crash investigator, Tony Cable, told the Guardian his theory on how the jet having its nose up at the moment it crashed 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."
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The seating plan of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner shows the seat 11A near the emergency exit - while his brother was sat in 11J
Credit: The seating plan of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner shows the seat 11A near the emergency exit - while his brother was sat in 11J
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Vishwash Kumar Ramesh - sitting in 11A - was the sole survivor of the jet crash
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He also explained that the impact of the crash could have broken a part of the plane, or the emergency door itself, giving the Brit a chance to escape death.
Another expert weighed in on the importance of Vishwash's seat selection of 11A.
Engineering safety professor John McDermid said that his choice of seat may have given the lucky Brit more time to escape.
Seat 11A is positioned 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.
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Vishwash's boarding pass shows that he sat in seat 11A
Credit: Getty
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Government officials beneath the tail of the plane, which remains wedged in a building
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No more survivors are expected to be found in the wreckage
In his own research of plane crashes, he found that people sitting within five rows of a serviceable exit have a better chance of surviving than those sat more than five rows away from one.
The expert added that when he travels, he always tries to reserve a seat within five rows of an emergency exit to boost his odds of survival.
Another theory for how Vishwash survived was also made after shocking footage of the plane's final moments showed what may have been the
Unbelievable footage showed the moment the Dreamliner went down - with a mysterious object seen spinning away seconds before the plane blew up into a fireball.
The theories about how Vishwash survived also come as a veteran pilot revealed what he believes caused the devastating crash itself
YouTuber and commercial airline pilot Captain Steve Chen gave his chilling theory after watching the
Some 279 people have been killed following the
horror
smash in Ahmedabad, India.
Investigations are still ongoing into the cause of the crash - with at least one of the black boxes recovered from the wreck.
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People stand near debris at the site of the crash
Credit: Getty
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The plane was seen wedged in a building
Credit: Reuters
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Both pilot Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and co-pilot Clive Kunder and believed to be among the dead.
Mr Sabharwal, who had 8,200 hours of experience, while his colleague Mr Kunder had 1,100 hours.
Vishwash could also provide key clues as to what happened to the plane.
He said cabin lights began flickering before the jet sank through the air and crashed.
Recalling the moments before tragedy, Vishwash, from Leicester, said: "When the flight took off, within five to 10 seconds it felt like it was stuck in the air.
"Suddenly, the lights started flickering - green and white.
"The aircraft wasn't gaining altitude and was just gliding before it suddenly slammed into a building and exploded."
Vishwash's flickering lights revelation comes after a passenger, who took the plane the day before the crash, claimed electrical parts such as the back-of-seat screens weren't working.
Aviation experts have speculated that the reports of dodgy electrics could be a sign of a
power
failure, possibly explaining the crash.
Air
India
is keeping an open mind as to what went wrong and caused the deaths of 52 Brits.
Theories being considered include issues with the engine thrust, flaps and landing gear - as well as a bird strike and a pilot error.
India's dark aviation history
A LONDON-BOUND Air India flight crashed in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad on Thursday.
The following are details of some other airline accidents in India in recent decades:
AUGUST 2020
At least 18 people died and 16 were severely injured when an Air India Express Boeing 737 plane skidded off the runway in the southern city of Kozhikode during heavy rain, plunged into a valley and crashed nose-first into the ground.
MAY 2010
An Air India Boeing 737 flight from Dubai overshot the runway at the airport in the southern city of Mangaluru and crashed into a ravine, killing 158 people on board.
JULY 2000
More than 50 people were killed when a state-owned Alliance Air flight between Kolkata and the capital, New Delhi, crashed in a residential area of the eastern city of Patna.

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The Irish Sun

8 hours ago

• The Irish Sun

Inside dystopian town blitzed by 450 nukes plagued by suicides & cancer-riddled families issued ‘radiation passports'

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And one of the site's most destructive detonations reportedly caused four times as many instances of severe radiation poisoning as the Chernobyl disaster. Advertisement Following 40 years of nuclear explosions which wreaked havoc on nearby communities, the consequences are still felt today. Kazakh authorities dished out eerie "radiation passports" to help and identify victims of the fallout - but these have failed to fully cover the tragic repercussions. Local resident Maira Abenova told The Sun: "After more than 30 years have passed, we can now say that for 40 years, an atomic war was waged on our beautiful land." Now a mum and grandma, Maira was raised in the neighbouring high-risk town of Semipalatinsk, which is by the Russian border and is today known as Semey. Advertisement Most read in The US Sun She is also the founder an advocacy group for victims of the tests called Committee Polygon 21. 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Advertisement Maira also heads the human rights organisation DOM, which has also played an important role forming initiatives aimed at protecting the rights of victims of nuclear tests. She says on social media that for the last three years, the organisation has been working "to shape new ways of addressing victims, to achieve significant change, and to expand dialogue with the state and the international community." Maira has won awards for her work supporting victims of the tests and participated in UN meetings calling for the ban of nuclear weapons. She left Committee Polygon 21 earlier this month but continues to work with victims of nuclear fallout through her leading role at DOM. Advertisement It is believed that more than one million people resided in and around Semipalatinsk - but today, only a few thousand people remain. The International Day against Nuclear Tests occurs every year on August 29, the day the first bomb went off in Semipalatinsk Test Site. Despite neighbouring locals living through the nuclear fallout of the site, it remains unclear exactly how dangerous living in the region is today. Scavengers have excavated the site in hopes of selling off scrap metal, while locals are known to use the "Atomic Lake" as a fishing spot. Advertisement Maira said she was aware locals like to go fishing there as they "have come to believe that it is safe". But since the landscape has been marred by nearly half a century of nuclear bombing, she said the area had partly lost its beauty. Read more on the Irish Sun "It is more reminiscent of the surface of the moon," she said. "A steppe and granite hills that have crumbled over time... scattered across by the atomic explosions." Advertisement

Irish Examiner

16 hours ago

• Irish Examiner

Air India Flight 182: Cork photographer recalls taking iconic image of 1985 bombing tragedy

One of the most poignant photographs ever printed on the front page of this publication was that of the lines of dead bodies in the temporary morgue set up in Cork for the victims of Air India flight 182. A bomb placed on board the flight by militants exploded off the Kerry/West Cork coast on June 23, 1985, with the plane plunging into the Atlantic. Forty years on, photographer Denis Minihane can still recall second by second the lead-up to snapping that iconic photograph, which also showed a group of medics gathered in the background of the image. Now retired after spending 47 years as a press photographer, the then 26-year-old snapper had been looking forward to a busy afternoon shooting sports photos in Thurles for two Munster hurling games. HISTORY HUB If you are interested in this article then no doubt you will enjoy exploring the various history collections and content in our history hub. Check it out HERE and happy reading But when news broke of the horror air disaster off the west Cork coast, Denis' day took a different turn. He was not to know it as he returned from Thurles to the offices of the Cork Examiner on Academy Street in Cork city centre but his image would become synonymous with the tragedy unfolding in the sea off West Cork. Denis's image from the temporary mortuary set up in the then Cork Regional Hospital was syndicated across the world, and was featured in the New York magazine, Life, which was very influential at the time. Former Irish Examiner photographer Denis Minihane's picture of the remains of victims from the Air India Flight 182 air disaster on June 23, 1985, in a temporary morgue at Cork Regional Hospital (now Cork University Hospital). The world exclusive photograph taken through a window was published in newspapers and magazines all over the world including LIFE magazine and won a news picture of the year award the following year. Photo: Denis Minihane Looking back, the Skibbereen-born photographer said: 'It was the most significant photograph I took in my career really. Sadly it was one of a disaster. Such is life.' Denis retired last year and recalls entering the photographic trade after seeing his father Michael work as a photographer with the then Cork Examiner. After his Leaving Certificate, Denis entered the dark room in the Cork Examiner in October 1976, not knowing that one of the most iconic images of Irish press photography history would his. He recalls: 'On the morning of the 23rd of June 1985, I was marked to go to Thurles to cover two Munster hurling championship games and the 11 o'clock news came on on RTÉ Radio 1 and it said that Air India flight 182 had gone down off the Irish coast. "So we came back to Cork and parked the car and came into the office and it was rather difficult to get into the photographic department because it was packed with photographers who had arrived in Cork from different countries around the world.' He says of himself that he was just a 'young fella' at the time, aged 26. Forty years on, photographer Denis Minihane can still recall second by second the lead-up to snapping that iconic photograph. Picture: Chani Anderson He continues: 'I went out and attended the press conference (at the Regional Hospital) and there was a huge gathering of photographers and camera crews at it. I managed, through enquiries, to find out where the remains of the people taken from the wreckage were being kept and it was a temporary morgue that was set up in the gymnasium. "I got as far as the door and I obviously was not able to get any further so I went around the back of the building and I could see that there was a very high window. "But it was just down to my level so I could just about see in and didn't know if I could get a photograph or not because there was a very high thick net curtain, full length, inside the window, down on to the window sill. "So I could barely see into the room. I was by the window for quite a while and it was getting late in the evening. It must have been 10.30pm, may be 10.30/11 o'clock at night and I saw someone coming towards the window with a ladder and I move, I step back around the side of the building. I thought I had been seen but obviously I hadn't because what it was was that somebody had gone up and opened the window to let some air in to the building. Seeing his chance, Denis decided to have another attempt at seeing into the mortuary and recalls: 'That's how I had a gap of maybe two inches to get the photograph through and I managed to get a few frames.' But even then, he didn't know if his attempt was successful, in a time when photography took more patience than today. He explains: 'In those days, you had to come back to the office and process so I didn't know whether I had a photograph or not and it was a nervous seven or eight minutes developing the film – an anxious wait. Anxious also because it was also an upsetting scene that I had seen. It was a poignant scene.' He recalls seeing the images develop and night editor Liam Moher writing the caption for his now famous image, which included the words 'world exclusive picture'. He says: 'I just didn't understand the significance of it I suppose. It was over my head. I had done what I had done because it was my job and he had asked me to go and do it but I didn't realise how significant the picture was going to be in the following days and years afterwards.' He is mindful of the pain and suffering of the families and friends of those who were lost in the Air India disaster. He continues: Looking back at the photograph now, it evokes memories of that awfully sad day and my heart still goes out to the families and friends of all those people who died so tragically in that awful disaster when the bomb exploded off the Irish coast. The flight was due to stop over in London's Heathrow before travelling to India for stops in Delhi and Mumbai. Passengers were primarily from Canada, but others on board came from India and Britain, as well as other countries. More than 80 of them were children. Two men accused of murder and conspiracy relating to the crash were found not guilty in March 2005. It was alleged that the bombing was plotted by Sikh extremists in Canada as revenge on India for its storming of Sikhism's Golden Temple in Amritsar in 1984. Read More A selection of images chosen by the Irish Examiner picture desk

Irish Examiner

16 hours ago

• Irish Examiner

'We prepared for survivors': A Navy officer's memory of Air India Flight 182, 40 years on

Hundreds of people including relatives of those who died in the Air India disaster will attend the 40th anniversary commemoration for the 329 passengers and crew who were killed when a bomb exploded on the transatlantic flight off the coast of West Cork. The main commemoration will be held on Monday, June 23, in the village of Ahakista, the nearest point on land to where Air India flight 182 exploded, scattering bodies and debris into the Atlantic about 190km off the Irish coast. This commemoration will get under way at 8am and is expected to be attended by a number of senior Canadian and Indian diplomats, along with Irish politicians and members of the emergency services, some of whom who are now retired but were involved in the original search and recovery operation. The navy will be represented by its current commanding officer Commodore Michael Malone. The plane's wreckage being brought ashore. A memorial built in the West Cork coastal village was unveiled exactly one year after the 1985 disaster. Its centrepiece is a sundial on a rounded stone base. Created by Cork sculptor Ken Thompson, it is designed to capture the sun's rays at 8.13am, which is the exact time the Boeing 747-237B disappeared from radar. The flight was heading from Montreal for a stopover in London and then to Delhi. It was blown up in Irish airspace while at an altitude of 9,400m. Of those killed, the majority were of Indian descent. There were 280 Canadian citizens, 27 British and 22 Indian passport holders onboard, plus other nationalities. There were more than 80 children onboard. Initially, it was not known what the cause was, but it was quickly determined a bomb had been placed onboard. It was planted by Sikh separatists and was the world's deadliest act of aviation terrorism until the 9/11 Osama Bin Laden-led attacks on the US in 2001 killed more than 3,000. The jet's bombing remains the largest mass murder in modern Canadian history and the worst loss of life ever suffered by Air India. On June 13 of this year an Air India passenger plane bound for London crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad, resulting in the tragic loss of 241 lives on board and at least 29 fatalities on the ground. The Indian Embassy in Ireland lauded the local community for it response to the 1985 disaster. It said: "The spirit with which the people of Ahakista and the nearby areas rose to the occasion in solidarity with the families of the victims is a saga but a story largely unknown. Apart from emergency assistance in identifying the bodies and locating and collecting the debris, they opened their hearts and homes to complete strangers and generously put them up in their hour of grief. They continue to do so to this day. The Naval Service mounted a major recovery operation, which was aided by the RAF, which sent in Sea King helicopters. In total, 131 bodies were recovered in what was the biggest off-shore search and recovery operation ever mounted by the Irish State. 'We prepared for survivors' Captain James Robinson, Officer Commander Naval Operations, aboard the le Eithne in 2000. It was coordinated by Lieutenant Commander James Robinson, who captained LÉ Aisling, which was one of five ships at the scene. At the time, Robinson's ship had been searching for Spanish trawlers fishing illegally off the Kerry coast when it picked up an alert at 8.52am from Valentia Radio, which said an aircraft had disappeared from radar screens and gave him the likely position of where the plane came down. He said initially they were not told what kind of aircraft was missing, but soon got the awful news it was an Air India Boeing 747 with 329 people on board. 'We prepared for an awful lot of survivors. Spare blankets and sheets were taken out of stores. The sick bay was prepared. Soup was put on the stove. We were going to spare no effort to save as many of those poor people as possible,' he said. LÉ Aisling arrived at the crash scene shortly after 11am. One large merchant ship, the Laurentian Forest, was in the vicinity while overhead a Royal Air Force Nimrod aircraft was circling the area dropping smoke floats to mark concentrations of wreckage. The senior navy officer decided on two objectives. The most important was to recover as many bodies as possible, and as quickly as possible. Robinson was lucky to have an experienced diving team onboard who went out on Gemini RIB (rigid inflatable boats) to gather as many bodies as they could. Though exhausted, the diving team refused to be replaced when Robinson ordered it. They launched 14 times during the day to recover the bodies. The bodies were wrapped in sheets and stowed below decks. The engineers' office and the shipwright's workshop were designated as make-shift morgues. The first body recovered from the crash site arriving at Cork Airport. At the height of the search, Mr Robinson was controlling the movements of 19 ships, a British Nimrod and American Hercules which supplied over-head surveillance technology, and eight military helicopters supplied by the British and US. He also enlisted the help of Spanish trawlers in the area, after finding one crewman on a merchant ship in the area who could speak English and Spanish and he was detailed to relay messages to the trawlers. The merchant vessels also acted as landing pads for helicopters bringing back bodies and other rescue helicopters transported them to the mortuary at the then Cork Regional Hospital, now CUH. When night fell, Robinson released the ships and trawlers from the operation. 'Aisling was left alone in the midst of all that desolation. For the first time since it kicked off, I had time to reflect. I hoped that one day I would look the people who did this in the eye. "I then reflected on what had been achieved by the people under my command and I felt immensely proud but humbled. Most of the people on Aisling were under 25 and many just teenagers. They carried out everything I had asked of them without question,' he said. Robinson has not been to the commemoration for some years but will be attending on Monday where he will lay a wreath alongside several of his former shipmates. 'The families of those who died are getting older so it could be the last big commemoration,' he said. Local school children will form a choir at the ceremony, which is being organised by Cork County Council. A number of locals helped to recover vital pieces of wreckage as well, especially those living by the shore. One was James O'Mahony. At the time he lived close to Trarurim Strand, which is about 10km west of Ahakista. 'People living by the shore would find bits and pieces [of the plane's wreckage] and hand it over the council who would pass it on to the relevant authorities,' Mr O'Mahony said. Mr O'Mahony has since moved to just 1km from the Ahakista memorial and will attend the commemoration this year because it's the 40th anniversary. He has been to a number of them before and met some of the relatives of those who lost their lives, mainly from India. Most of the victims were Hindus and lived in Ontario. The second ceremony of the day will take place at St Michael's Cemetery in the Cork suburb of Blackrock, where two of the victims are buried. Anna Maria Alexander and her daughter, Rena, were both laid to rest in a single grave there. They are the only victims buried in this country as all the other bodies recovered after the plane went down were taken to be buried in their respective home countries by relatives. Finbarr Archer, who has driven lord mayors of Cork for many years, has looked after their graves for the past 40 years. Well-known Cork figure, Finbarr Archer. In June 1985, Finbar was working as an undertaker when he was stationed at the makeshift morgue in Cork following the Air India Flight 182 disaster. In the aftermath, he personally arranged the burial of two unclaimed victims and has continued to tend their graves at St. Michael's Cemetery in Blackrock ever since. Picture Chani Anderson He worked as an undertaker's assistant at the time of the disaster, documenting the names of the dead and helping out at a makeshift mortuary. Mr Archer said that Ann Marie Alexander's husband and a son were also on the flight, but their bodies were never recovered. 'The mother and daughter's bodies were never claimed. We believe that's probably because they didn't have any relatives left,' he said. So, he took it upon himself to tend to their graves ever since and is organising the commemoration at St Michael's Cemetery. 'We will be having local school children playing music on the day and there will be representatives from the fire service and gardaí in attendance. We will also have some of the guards and firemen who were involved in the aftermath of the recovery operations. We'll also have a colour party of UN veterans who'll parade with the Irish Tricolour and Indian and Canadian national flags,' Finbarr said. The ceremony is open to the public and will get under way at about midday. Meanwhile, the navy has revealed as a mark of respect to those lost it has commissioned a commemorative plaque which will be unveiled at Haulbowline naval base during a special ceremony later this summer. Among those invited to the unveiling will be the crewmembers who served proudly on board LE Aisling at the time of the tragedy and as a recognition the navy intends to present them with a commemorative military coin. Read More It is a miracle, says lone survivor of Air India plane crash