Lone survivor lays brother to relaxation at emotional funeral

[ad_1] Lakshmi Patel BBC Gujarati, Ahmedabad

Samira Hussain BBC Information, Ahmedabad

Air India crash survivor attends funeral of brother who died in crash

The British man who was the only survivor of final week's Air India aircraft crash has helped lay his brother to relaxation at a funeral in western India.

Vishwashkumar Ramesh's brother Ajay was additionally on the ill-fated flight however didn't survive the tragedy.

A visibly upset Ramesh was one of many pall bearers who carried his brother's coffin to the crematorium within the city of Diu, his arm and face nonetheless lined in white bandages. He is spent a lot of the previous 5 days in hospital.

The London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed seconds after taking off on Thursday from the western Indian metropolis of Ahmedabad. Not less than 270 individuals have been killed, most of them passengers.

Mr Ramesh's mom walked with the coffin in a blue sari together with different mourners, as he held it on his proper shoulder.

A number of individuals from the city - which misplaced 14 different individuals to the crash - got here out for the funeral even because the rain lashed the procession.

Nobody is obvious how Mr Ramesh managed to outlive. He even tried to return to the blazing aircraft to seek for his brother, one of many first responders on the scene informed the BBC.

In a brand new video that emerged earlier this week, ambulance driver Satinder Singh Sandhu is the person seen guiding Mr Ramesh to security as he walks out of the crash website with flames and thick smoke billowing into the air behind him.

New footage reveals sole survivor of Air India crash emerge from flames

Mr Sandhu, a supervisor with the emergency ambulance companies in Ahmedabad, says he had no concept who he was serving to, or that Mr Ramesh had escaped from the aircraft. He solely came upon later that day on the information that the person was the only survivor of the crash.

Vishwashkumar Ramesh, 40, was in seat 11A on the flight. His brother is reported to have been sitting just a few seats away.

All different passengers and crew have been killed and practically 30 individuals additionally died on the bottom after the aircraft hurtled down and crashed into a physician's hostel.

However Mr Ramesh miraculously survived, managing to get out of the wreckage by means of a gap within the fuselage.

The brand new video reveals Mr Sandhu, who's sporting a blue turban, stroll as much as Mr Ramesh and information him to security.

Mr Sandhu stated he was having lunch together with his colleagues when he first observed a "huge fireplace with thick smoke rising into the sky".

"At first, we thought it is perhaps a automotive accident or a gasoline cylinder blast. Quickly, we realized it was a aircraft crash. I instantly instructed my workforce to carry an ambulance, and rushed to the location."

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/db86/live/5f5f2130-4b67-11f0-abc3-41f059ca87b9.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/db86/live/5f5f2130-4b67-11f0-abc3-41f059ca87b9.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/db86/live/5f5f2130-4b67-11f0-abc3-41f059ca87b9.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/db86/live/5f5f2130-4b67-11f0-abc3-41f059ca87b9.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/db86/live/5f5f2130-4b67-11f0-abc3-41f059ca87b9.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/db86/live/5f5f2130-4b67-11f0-abc3-41f059ca87b9.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/db86/live/5f5f2130-4b67-11f0-abc3-41f059ca87b9.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/db86/live/5f5f2130-4b67-11f0-abc3-41f059ca87b9.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Pavan Jaishwal Mr Sandhu, seen in yellow turban, guided the sole survivor of the crash to safety. " class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Pavan Jaishwal Satinder Singh Sandhu stated he solely realised who Mr Ramesh was when he noticed the information later

Talking to BBC Gujarati, Mr Sandhu stated that he was simply attempting to do his job. In his decades-long profession, he stated he had encountered many difficult conditions.

However what stunned him that day was how Mr Ramesh, after being rescued, stored attempting to return to the location of the crash.

"He had no concept what he was doing. He stored going out and in of the complicated. We informed him to cease, and dragged him away to an ambulance in order that he might obtain medical care," Mr Sandhu stated.

"That is when he stated to me that his relative was trapped inside and he wished to go save him. We didn't converse a phrase after that."

Mr Ramesh later informed India's DD Information that he was attempting to go search for Ajay.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/be87/live/252393a0-4c18-11f0-92ed-e1eefb55eb50.png.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/be87/live/252393a0-4c18-11f0-92ed-e1eefb55eb50.png.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/be87/live/252393a0-4c18-11f0-92ed-e1eefb55eb50.png.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/be87/live/252393a0-4c18-11f0-92ed-e1eefb55eb50.png.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/be87/live/252393a0-4c18-11f0-92ed-e1eefb55eb50.png.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/be87/live/252393a0-4c18-11f0-92ed-e1eefb55eb50.png.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/be87/live/252393a0-4c18-11f0-92ed-e1eefb55eb50.png.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/be87/live/252393a0-4c18-11f0-92ed-e1eefb55eb50.png.webp" loading="lazy" alt="ANI Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi talks to a person in a hospital bed, Vishwashkumar Ramesh, who was the only survivor of the Air India plane crash" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> ANI Mr Ramesh - seen right here being visited by PM Narendra Modi - has spent a lot of the final 5 days in hospital

On the scene, Mr Sandhu noticed a safety guard who appeared to have been injured within the impression. His garments have been partially burnt and Mr Sandhu first helped him.

"I additionally noticed a girl. She was screaming in horror. Her son who ran a tea stall had been killed within the crash."

Moments later he noticed Mr Ramesh emerge from the crash website in a white shirt.

He had accidents on his face and burns on his arms and appeared visibly upset, Mr Sandhu stated.

"At that time, we had no concept who the injured man was. I assumed he was one of many docs who lived within the school. Later, after we noticed the information, we realised he was the lone survivor of the crash."

Chirag, a member of Mr Sandhu's ambulance workforce, informed PTI information company that Mr Ramesh was telling somebody on a video name that his kin have been on the crash website.

The primary responders handled him for his accidents and rushed him to the trauma centre of a hospital close by.

In his interview with DD Information, Mr Ramesh had stated he couldn't consider that he got here out of the wreckage alive.

"For a second, I felt like I used to be going to die too, however after I opened my eyes and appeared round, I realised I used to be alive.

"I nonetheless cannot consider how I survived. I walked out of the rubble."

The reason for the crash will not be but identified. Officers try to decode the cockpit voice and flight information recorders - collectively referred to as the black field - recovered from the wreckage to piece collectively what occurred.