2 totally different aircraft crash survivors say they sat in seat 11A — does the place you sit truly matter?

[ad_1] Two totally different doomed flights, two totally different survivors with one factor in frequent: seat 11A.

Vishwashkumar Ramesh, the sole survivor of the Air India crash that killed 241 individuals on board and a number of other extra on the bottom after the aircraft crashed minutes after takeoff final Thursday, has made headlines around the globe.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner struck a medical faculty hostel in a ball of flames when it crashed right into a residential space of the northwestern Indian metropolis of Ahmedabad. Most our bodies of these aboard the aircraft have been burned past recognition. However police say Ramesh was seated close to the emergency exit of the aircraft and managed to leap by means of it after the crash.

U.Okay. media have dubbed it the "miracle of seat 11A," after Ramesh's boarding move confirmed that is the place he was sitting on the flight certain for London's Gatwick Airport.

<img loading="lazy" alt="Three men in white jackets surround a man in a hospital bed" srcset="https://i.cbc.ca/1.7560421.1749841932!/cpImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/india-plane-crash-survivor.jpg?im=Resize%3D300 300w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7560421.1749841932!/cpImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/india-plane-crash-survivor.jpg?im=Resize%3D460 460w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7560421.1749841932!/cpImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/india-plane-crash-survivor.jpg?im=Resize%3D620 620w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7560421.1749841932!/cpImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/india-plane-crash-survivor.jpg?im=Resize%3D780 780w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7560421.1749841932!/cpImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/india-plane-crash-survivor.jpg?im=Resize%3D1180 1180w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 300px,(max-width: 460px) 460px,(max-width: 620px) 620px,(max-width: 780px) 780px,(max-width: 1180px) 1180px" src="https://i.cbc.ca/1.7560421.1749841932!/cpImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/india-plane-crash-survivor.jpg?im=" style="aspect-ratio:1.3625866050808315" data-cy="image-img"/> Vishwashkumar Ramesh, the only real survivor of the Air India crash that killed 241 individuals on board and a number of other extra on the bottom, is seen on this handout photograph issued by the Indian Ministry of Residence Affairs. (Ministry of Residence Affairs India/The Related Press) However Thai singer and actor James Ruangsak Loychusak, who was one of many survivors of a lethal 1998 Thai Airways aircraft crash, is asking it an "uncanny coincidence."

"Survivor of a aircraft crash in India. He sat in the identical seat as me. 11A," Loychusak wrote on Fb Friday.

In keeping with the Aviation Security Community, the Airbus A310 Loychusak was aboard in 1998 crashed throughout its method to Surat Thani Airport, killing 101 individuals.

The aircraft crashed in heavy rain, after its third touchdown try on the airport 500 kilometres southwest of Bangkok. However 45 individuals survived, together with Loychusak.

In an additional clarification, Loychusak wrote in Thai that he would not have his ticket or boarding move from the flight. As such, CBC Information is unable to confirm his precise seat. However he claimed to know his seat quantity primarily based on on-line seating charts for his plane, which he shared on-line.

"That was an uncanny coincidence," he advised India's The Telegraph On-line Monday. "The sort that provides you goosebumps."

Only a coincidence? After Loychusak shared his put up, the story started to go viral, and a few individuals commenting on-line have puzzled if there's one thing about seat 11A that makes it safer than others.

Not based on aviation and catastrophe medication consultants, who are likely to agree that every one crashes are distinctive, and there are a variety of random components that would enhance your probabilities of survival, so it is extra about all these variables aligning.

"Every accident is totally different, and it's inconceivable to foretell survivability primarily based on seat location," Mitchell Fox, a director at Flight Security Basis, a U.S.-based nonprofit, beforehand advised Reuters.

Plus, seat 11A is situated in totally different spots on totally different planes, relying on the configuration of the plane.

In Ramesh's case, seat 11A on the 787-8 Dreamliner was the primary row in economic system class, straight behind the emergency exit.

However in an Airbus A310, based on images on the Seat Guru web site and a graphic of a seating chart shared on Fb by Loychusak, 11A is just a few rows forward of the emergency exit.

Typically, sitting close to an emergency exit can enhance probabilities of evacuation, particularly in survivable crashes involving hearth or smoke, stated Stephen Wooden, an affiliate medical professor at Northeastern College in Boston and an professional in catastrophe medication and EMS.

Nevertheless, in a high-energy impression crash, just like the one in India, survivability primarily based on seat location turns into much more advanced, he advised CBC Information. Exit row seats are sometimes close to strengthened components of the airframe, Wooden defined. They're additionally adjoining to structural elements just like the wing span which could be websites of great destruction.

"On this case, the truth that the survivor was seated there might have been fortuitous, however it's not a assure of security in most crashes," Wooden stated, talking particularly about Ramesh's expertise.

"So sure, his seat might have helped, however survival seemingly relied on rather more than that alone."

WATCH | Survivor of Air India crash walks away: British nationwide was sole survivor of Air India crash

Vishwashkumar Ramesh, a British nationwide of Indian descent, was the one passenger who survived the crash of an Air India aircraft certain for London that killed at the least 240 individuals on Thursday in Ahmedabad. Social media video appeared to point out him strolling away from the crash; CBC Information has not independently verified the video. Each crash is totally different In brief, it would not actually matter the place you sit since each accident is totally different, consultants say.

"All of it depends upon the crash dynamics," Daniel Kwasi Adjekum, an aviation security researcher on the College of North Dakota, advised Stay Science earlier this month.

A 2007 Common Mechanics research of crashes since 1971 discovered that passengers towards the again of the aircraft had higher survival odds.

Some consultants counsel the wing part presents extra stability (whereas additionally acknowledging the hazard of being over the gasoline tanks). A research carried out by Time journal in 2015 concluded the center seats within the rear of the plane had the best survival chance.

<img loading="lazy" alt="Plane nose" srcset="https://i.cbc.ca/1.7561472.1749902878!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/india-plane-crash.jpg?im=Resize%3D300 300w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7561472.1749902878!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/india-plane-crash.jpg?im=Resize%3D460 460w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7561472.1749902878!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/india-plane-crash.jpg?im=Resize%3D620 620w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7561472.1749902878!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/india-plane-crash.jpg?im=Resize%3D780 780w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7561472.1749902878!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/india-plane-crash.jpg?im=Resize%3D1180 1180w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 300px,(max-width: 460px) 460px,(max-width: 620px) 620px,(max-width: 780px) 780px,(max-width: 1180px) 1180px" src="https://i.cbc.ca/1.7561472.1749902878!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/india-plane-crash.jpg?im=" style="aspect-ratio:1.4993646759847523" data-cy="image-img"/> A crane lifts the tail of the Air India aircraft from the roof of the constructing the place it crashed in Ahmedabad, India, on June 14. (Ajit Solanki/The Related Press) Sitting subsequent to an exit door, as Ramesh did, provides individuals a chance to be one of many first passengers to get out within the occasion {that a} aircraft goes down, though some exits do not perform after a crash.

For example, Ramesh has stated the reverse aspect of the aircraft was crushed towards a wall of the constructing it crashed into. This might have prevented anybody who might have survived the impression on the proper aspect of the aircraft from escaping by means of that emergency exit.

"From a technical perspective, survival in these sorts of occasions is normally resulting from a confluence of uncommon however explainable components together with the plane's breakup sample, impression dynamics, the survivor's place and situation and typically simply seconds of timing," Wooden advised CBC Information.

'Past seat numbers' On Fb Sunday, Loychusak famous that his story is "now going viral throughout many nations."

"However what I really need to share goes past seat numbers," he stated.

"I need to inform the world what this expertise gave me — not simply survival, however a very new perspective on life."

The Thai Airways flight that crashed on Dec. 11, 1998, was carrying 132 passengers and 14 crew. Lots of of rescue staff waded by means of a muddy swamp to drag charred our bodies from the wreckage.

<img loading="lazy" alt="Four men in a rescue boat amid a bunch of floating rubble, at night" srcset="https://i.cbc.ca/1.7562509.1750097343!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/thai-airways.jpg?im=Resize%3D300 300w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7562509.1750097343!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/thai-airways.jpg?im=Resize%3D460 460w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7562509.1750097343!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/thai-airways.jpg?im=Resize%3D620 620w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7562509.1750097343!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/thai-airways.jpg?im=Resize%3D780 780w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7562509.1750097343!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/thai-airways.jpg?im=Resize%3D1180 1180w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 300px,(max-width: 460px) 460px,(max-width: 620px) 620px,(max-width: 780px) 780px,(max-width: 1180px) 1180px" src="https://i.cbc.ca/1.7562509.1750097343!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/thai-airways.jpg?im=" style="aspect-ratio:1.6526610644257702" data-cy="image-img"/> Rescue staff seek for victims of the Thai Airways flight TG-261 crash in a muddy plantation in southern Thailand early on Dec. 12, 1998. (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Pictures) Loychusak survived, however endured extreme accidents, together with fractured ribs, spinal trauma, and mind hemorrhaging. He spent over a 12 months in restoration, he advised India's The Telegraph. Although he was a recognizable pop star, he stated he needed to get used to a totally different kind of highlight from his hospital mattress.