A survivor has been miraculously found after an Air India plane on its way to London crashed in a huge fireball killing more than 200 people, police say.
Police found the survivor in seat 11A, Ahmedabad police commissioner GS Malik said according to Indian news agency ANI.
Unconfirmed reports in India claim the survivor is a British national who had minor injuries and walked away from the crash unaided. Footage of a man apparently walking from the site of the crash has circulated widely on social media.
The passenger was named as Vishwash Kumar Ramesh in the flight manifest shared by authorities, the BBC reports. According to Hindustan Times, he said: “Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly.”
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Mr Ramesh was in India for a few days to visit family but has lived in London with his wife and child for 20 years, he said according to the Indian outlet.
“When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. 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,” HT reported him as saying.
More than 204 bodies have been recovered from the crash site, local police said, but the total fatality count remains unclear as rescuers work through the charred wreckage.
There were 242 people on board the flight, including 12 crew members. Air India said the passengers included 169 Indians, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese citizens and one Canadian.
The Indian and British prime ministers said authorities were keeping them updated about the incident. “It is heartbreaking beyond words,” Narendra Modi said on X. Sir Keir Starmer said the scenes were “devastating”.
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