The tragedy of seat 11J: Two British brothers boarded Air India flight however just one left alive – circle of relatives’s pleasure and dread as father is sole survivor however sibling is lacking

The British brother of the one guy to live to tell the tale Air India‘s devastating aircraft crash is these days pictured by means of MailOnline as their circle of relatives weeps with pleasure and dread.

Ajaykumar Ramesh, 35, and Viswash, 40, were in India on a trade commute earlier than they boarded the doomed flight travelling from Ahmedabad to Gatwick on Thursday.

In what has been described as a miracle, Viswash – seated in 11A by means of the go out – survived, however his sibling who used to be sat at the different facet of the aisle in seat 11J perished within the fireball explosion.

Devastatingly, injured Viswash has been begging from his sanatorium mattress: ‘Find Ajay, you will have to to find Ajay.’

Last evening, kin accrued on the circle of relatives’s terraced house in Leicester to convenience the brothers’ mom who is alleged to be too grief-stricken to talk.

‘It’s a miracle no less than certainly one of them survived,’ more youthful brother Nayankumar Ramesh, 27, informed us.  

‘He mentioned his aircraft had crashed and he could not to find somebody, we could not imagine it. There used to be blood working down his face.

‘You can see within the image (within the Indian Press taken in sanatorium) that he has been injured. We’re flying in the market the next day to come.’

Hours after the crash, Nayan mentioned the circle of relatives have been determined for information about what came about to Ajay, as his telephone used to be nonetheless ringing out once they known as it. 

Air India later showed that 241 of the 242 folks aboard flight AI171 died within the crash – that means all hope of Ajay’s survival used to be dashed. 

‘We’re so at a loss for words’, Nayankumar mentioned earlier than the inside track. ‘We’re hoping he is survived and been taken to sanatorium as smartly.’

Asked how the circle of relatives are wrestling with the tragedy of 1 brother surviving and the lack of the opposite, he gestured to his sobbing mom, Manibai Ramesh, in the back of him.

‘That’s your solution’, the brother mentioned. ‘We’re simply baffled, baffled.’ 

He added: ‘It’s a miracle no less than certainly one of them survived.’ 

Nayan mentioned his older siblings have been in India on a trade commute relating to their circle of relatives trade. Viswash used to be previously the only director of textile corporate RMV Fashion, which closed down in 2022. 

The brothers’ cousin Ajay Valgi, from Leicester, informed how Viswash known as his circle of relatives to mention he used to be ‘high-quality’ after fleeing the burning plane. 

But whilst they miraculously heard from one brother, more youthful sibling Ajaykumar used to be tragically by no means involved. 

Cousin Ajay informed the BBC: ‘I’m feeling completely disenchanted. He’s now not simply my cousin, he is additionally certainly one of my perfect pals as smartly.

‘They have been sitting subsequent to one another, however we do not know what came about to [Ajay]. 

‘We’re now not doing smartly. We’re all disenchanted,’ he added. 

Astonishing pictures confirmed Viswash with visual accidents hobbling clear of the scene of the crash. He reportedly sustained accidents to his chest, eyes and toes. 

Police discovered the passenger in a residential house in Gujarat, and transferred him to a close-by sanatorium for remedy.

Speaking to native media from his sanatorium mattress, Viswash mentioned his brother were sitting on a close-by row, including: ‘I will’t to find him anymore.’ 

‘Thirty seconds after take-off, there used to be a noisy noise after which the aircraft crashed. It all came about so briefly,’ he added.

‘When I were given up, there have been our bodies throughout me. I used to be scared. I stood up and ran.

‘There have been items of the aircraft throughout me. Someone grabbed cling of me and put me in an ambulance and taken me to the sanatorium.’

Police mentioned Viswash had ‘controlled to flee by means of leaping out the emergency door’.  

A sanatorium medic reportedly claimed the survivor informed him how the jet had all of sudden cut up in 1/2, throwing him out earlier than an enormous explosion. 

Another added: ‘He informed us he were at the aircraft that crashed, however nobody believed him in the beginning.’ 

Brother Nayan mentioned his brother used to be in disbelief at how he were given out alive, announcing at the telephone: ‘I do not know how I survived or exited the aircraft.’

‘When he used to be at the runway, my dad known as him. And Viswash mentioned, “oh, we’re going to take off soon”,’ he mentioned. 

‘And then actually like two mins later, he video known as my dad as he crashed.

‘He mentioned, “our plane’s crashed, I don’t know where my brother is. I don’t see any other passengers. I don’t know how I’m alive, how I exited the plane”.

‘All he used to be frightened about at the telephone used to be telling us “find Ajay, you must find Ajay”,’ Nayan added. 

Viswash, who lives in London along with his spouse and kid, used to be travelling house when the aircraft crashed, hitting structures housing docs within the town of Ahmedabad. 

On the bottom, police mentioned they’d discovered some other survivor within the sanatorium struck by means of the aircraft. The showed demise toll has climbed to no less than 260 folks, in keeping with police.

Before the invention of the British survivor, government mentioned that they believed nobody had escaped the flight alive.

There have been 53 British nationals on board in addition to 159 Indian nationals, seven Portuguese voters and a Canadian. Eleven of the ones on board have been kids, together with two newborns.

The aircraft’s captain Sumeet Sabharwal, who had 8,200 hours of flying enjoy, desperately cried ‘Mayday…no thrust, dropping energy, not able to raise’ earlier than the plane went down and hit a residential belongings. 

Footage seems to turn Captain Sabharwal and his co-pilot Clive Kundar hopelessly seeking to nudge up the nostril in their sinking plane moments earlier than the devastating affect. 

Aviation mavens mentioned the Boeing 787 Dreamliner will have all of sudden misplaced energy ‘on the most crucial section of flight’ after takeoff.

The imaginable reasons are believed to incorporate a fast exchange in wind or a fowl strike resulting in a double engine stall. 

Officials from India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau have been on the scene to hold out an research of the wreckage and retrieve the troubled jet’s black field. 

Videos shared on social media confirmed the aircraft all of a sudden dropping altitude – with its nostril up – earlier than it hit a development and erupted in a violent explosion.

Ahmedabad Police Commissioner GS Malik showed that one passenger by hook or by crook survived the crash. 

‘The police discovered one survivor in seat 11A. He has been taken to the sanatorium and is recently receiving remedy,’ he informed information company ANI. 

‘As for the selection of casualties, it is too early to substantiate. The crash befell in a residential house, so the demise toll would possibly upward thrust.’

The Boeing jet crashed in a while after takeoff from Ahmedabad Airport in Gujarat at round 1.40pm (0810 GMT), officers mentioned.

Ahmedabad, the primary town of India’s Gujarat state, is house to round 8 million folks, and the busy airport is surrounded by means of densely packed residential spaces.

‘When we reached the spot there have been a number of our bodies mendacity round and firefighters have been dousing the flames,’ resident Poonam Patni mentioned.

‘Our place of business is close to the development the place the aircraft crashed. We noticed folks from the development leaping from the second one and 3rd ground to avoid wasting themselves. The aircraft used to be in flames,’ mentioned one resident, who declined to be named. 

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer mentioned the scenes from the crash have been ‘devastating’, in a remark addressing passengers and their households ‘at this deeply distressing time’. 

The UK executive mentioned it used to be sending a group to reinforce the investigation. 

Boeing mentioned it used to be ‘operating to assemble additional info’ at the incident which a supply just about the case mentioned used to be the primary crash for a 787 Dreamliner. 

A police professional who informed the BBC on Thursday evening that all of the our bodies and their stays were got rid of from the website of the crash. 

‘It took hours to make sense of the chaos. And it will take many extra hours to totally transparent up the website,’ he mentioned. 

Lt. Col. John R. Davidson, a former US Air Force pilot and industrial aviation protection advisor, mentioned the aircraft perceived to have reached takeoff pace however now not altitude, in keeping with flight knowledge, suggesting ‘both an overly past due rotation or a stall in a while after takeoff’. 

‘There are quite a few imaginable eventualities: thrust or engine efficiency problems, over the top plane weight, deficient trim or flap configuration, or a extra important failure that affected the plane’s talent to climb,’ he mentioned.

‘Weather, windshear and even fowl strike cannot be dominated out both at this early level.’

Preliminary flight monitoring knowledge from flightradar24 unearths the aircraft reached an altitude of simply 625feet after takeoff – a peak a long way under usual for a industrial plane a number of mins into departure. 

Captain Saurabh Bhatnagar, a former senior pilot, informed NDTV that circulating pictures appearing the aircraft’s terrifying descent ‘appeared like a case of more than one fowl hits in which each the engines have misplaced energy’.

‘The takeoff used to be best,’ he mentioned. ‘And simply, I imagine, in need of taking the equipment up, the plane began descending, which will occur handiest in case the engine loses energy or the plane stops creating carry.’ 

Aviation professional Sanjay Lazar famous that the Dreamliner used to be handiest 11 years previous, so used to be not going to have underlying technical problems. 

A fowl strike ‘would give an explanation for why the plane didn’t have the ability to raise,’ he mentioned. ‘If there have been more than one fowl hits on take-off, it more than likely may now not have long gone past the 6-7 minute threshold and began falling.’ 

In pilots’ boards, aviation mavens mentioned that it sounded just like the aircraft’s Ram Air Turbine (RAT), an emergency wind turbine, were deployed in a while earlier than the crash.

Davidson defined that the low altitude and prime pace studying on the ultimate second would possibly point out a ‘steep nose-down trajectory or a stall tournament’ simply after takeoff.

‘This is in line with injuries like Spanair Flight 5022 and Flydubai Flight 981, the place mechanical or environmental elements blended with compromised carry efficiency ended in lack of keep an eye on throughout or simply after liftoff,’ he mentioned.

The former pilot famous: ‘Flight knowledge on my own is not sufficient to decide fault — however it tells us this plane by no means actually made it airborne in a significant means. 

‘Whatever came about, it came about rapid, and proper on the most crucial section of flight.’

According to knowledge logs recorded at 30-second periods confirmed the aircraft remained at the floor or used to be taxiing slowly for over 4 mins after it first registered on public trackers.

The aircraft took off and reached 625feet, however no additional beneficial properties in altitude have been recorded earlier than the crash. 

India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation mentioned the aircraft despatched a mayday name moments earlier than the tragedy spread out. 

Prof Paul Williams, Professor of Atmospheric Science, University of Reading, noticed: ‘At the time of the departure, the elements stipulations on the airport seem to have been excellent. 

‘It used to be a dry and sunny day in Ahmedabad, with temperatures close to 40°C. 

‘There used to be excellent visibility and light-weight winds from the west. There used to be no dangerous climate within the neighborhood.

‘There is not any indication at this level that turbulence or different climate stipulations have been an element within the crash.’

Prof John McDermid, Lloyd’s Register Chair of Safety, University of York, famous: ‘It’s unexpected that the coincidence befell earlier than the plane had even were given to 200metres altitude. 

‘Pilots can abort take-off till moderately past due within the take-off roll, so it kind of feels like the issue befell very all of sudden within the ultimate a part of the take-off roll, or in a while after take-off, and used to be sufficiently severe to be unmanageable. 

‘Given the degrees of redundancy in programs, the truth that plane are designed to climb out on just one engine, and many others. on preliminary sight this turns out an overly unexpected coincidence.’

Peter Neenan, aviation legal professional and Partner at UK regulation company Stewarts, defined that there would most likely be a joint investigation to discover the reason for the tragedy.

‘In due path, the Indian Directorate of General Civil Aviation will start their investigation,’ he mentioned.

‘The US National Transportation Safety Board will help in that investigation and given the selection of deaths of British nationals, we’d be expecting the United Kingdom Air Accident Investigation Branch to additionally help.’

He famous that such investigations ‘automatically take two or extra years to finish’.

The jet careened again to earth within the densely populated Meghani house of the town.

Dark pictures confirmed the stays of our bodies at the website, whilst different footage shared to social media published chunks of the aircraft’s fuselage and tail sticking out from a demolished development. 

Parts of the jet smashed into lodging for docs working towards on the BJ Medical College and Civil Hospital.

Remnants of the fuselage and the touchdown equipment have been noticed dangling thru a gaping hollow within the facet of what gave the look to be a canteen, with half-finished plates of meals obviously visual on benches inside of.

‘The development on which it has crashed is a docs’ hostel… we’ve cleared nearly 70% to 80% of the world and can transparent the remaining quickly,’ a senior police officer informed journalists on the scene.

Firefighters doused the smouldering piles of particles with their hoses as footage and movies taken by means of horrified citizens in Meghani confirmed an enormous plume of thick black smoke emanating from the crash website.

‘Our place of business is close to the development the place the aircraft crashed. We noticed folks from the development leaping from the second one and 3rd ground to avoid wasting themselves. The aircraft used to be in flames,’ mentioned one resident, who declined to be named. 

British Foreign Minister David Lammy mentioned he used to be ‘deeply saddened’ by means of information of the crash, including that Britain used to be now operating with Indian government to ascertain precisely what ended in the incident.

‘My ideas are with all the ones affected. The UK is operating with native government in India to urgently determine the info and supply reinforce,’ his remark learn.

The Indian aviation minister’s place of business mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who described the crash as ‘heartbreaking past phrases’, had directed it to verify all reinforce used to be prolonged to the rescue efforts straight away.

All related businesses have been on prime alert and coordinated efforts have been underway, the aviation minister’s place of business added.

Air India’s Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran shared a heartfelt remark that learn: ‘With profound sorrow I ascertain that Air India Flight 171 working Ahmedabad London Gatwick used to be fascinated with a sad coincidence these days.

‘Our ideas and inner most condolences are with the households and family members of all the ones suffering from this devastating tournament. At this second, our number one center of attention is on supporting all of the affected folks and their households.

‘We are doing the whole lot in our energy to help the emergency reaction groups on the website and to supply all important reinforce and care to these impacted.’

Gatwick Airport due to this fact showed the flight that used to be because of land at 18:25 on Thursday had crashed on departure.

Aviation professional Julian Bray informed MailOnline: ‘It’s a Boeing Dreamliner that has long gone down – now not positive whether or not they have got controlled to get any one off the aircraft.

‘If it has certainly crash-landed and they are able to deploy the chutes out then they will have to have the ability to get folks off in 90 seconds. I’m mindful there are hearth home equipment in attendance – it is a primary incident.

‘It could be very disappointing that this can be a Dreamliner as this can be a cutting-edge Boeing. We can’t rule out safety problems. But that is all hypothesis on my section.’

Weather stipulations have been calm on the time of the coincidence with transparent skies and a windspeed of simply seven knots, or 8 miles in line with hour. 

Indian information company ANI reported police assets had showed 242 folks have been on board the flight. 

India’s aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu mentioned in a remark: ‘Shocked and devastated to be told in regards to the flight crash in Ahmedabad. We are on best alert. 

‘I’m in my view tracking the location and feature directed all aviation and emergency reaction businesses to take swift and coordinated motion. 

‘Rescue groups had been mobilised, and all efforts are being made to verify clinical help and aid reinforce are being rushed to the website. My ideas and prayers are with all the ones on board and their households.’

The Director General of India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is en path to the website of the incident with a group of investigators, in keeping with the Times of India. 

Air India shared a temporary remark within the wake of the crisis, writing on X: ‘Flight AI171, working Ahmedabad-London Gatwick, used to be fascinated with an incident these days, 12 June 2025. 

‘At this second, we’re ascertaining the main points and can proportion additional updates on the earliest.’

Ahmedabad is the primary town in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s house state of Gujarat.

The 787 Dreamliner concerned within the crash is a widebody, twin-engine aircraft. It is assumed to be the primary ever of a Boeing 787 plane, in keeping with the Aviation Safety Network database. 

The closing deadly aircraft crash in India used to be in 2020 and concerned Air India Express, the airline’s low cost arm.

The airline’s Boeing-737 overshot a ‘table-top’ runway at Kozhikode International Airport in southern India. The aircraft skidded off the runway, plunging right into a valley and crashing nose-first into the bottom.

Twenty-one folks have been killed in that crash.

The previously state-owned Air India used to be taken over by means of Indian conglomerate Tata Group in 2022, and merged with Vistara – a three way partnership between the crowd and Singapore Airlines – in 2024.

Tata mentioned an emergency centre were activated and a reinforce group arrange for households looking for knowledge.

Thursday’s tragedy is the newest in a string of failures involving Boeing jets and springs simply six months after a 737 crashed in South Korea, killing 179. 

In October 2018, Boeing’s Lion Air flight 610 plunged into the Java Sea in a while after takeoff from Jakarta, in Indonesia killing all 189 folks on board. 

Then, in March 2019, Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 crashed mins after departing Addis Ababa, ensuing within the deaths of 157 passengers and staff. 

Shares of planemaker Boeing fell 8% in premarket US buying and selling following these days’s incident. 

Boeing mentioned in a remark it used to be conscious about preliminary reviews and used to be operating to assemble additional info.