Recounting the harrowing moments from his hospital bed at Ahmedabad Civil, Ramesh said he felt the aircraft wasn’t gaining altitude and was “just gliding” before it slammed into a building and exploded. “Everything happened in seconds. I realised we were going down.” he said.
Ramesh, a 40-year-old British citizen of Indian origin, was seated by the window in seat 11A
He told DD News that the side of the aircraft he was on had sustained some damage, and he noticed a gap in the fuselage near him after the crash.
At first, I thought I was dead. Later, I realised I was still alive and saw an opening in the fuselage near my seat. I managed to unbuckle myself. I used my leg to push through that opening and crawled out.”
“Everyone around me was either dead or dying. I still don’t understand how I escaped.” Video clips from the crash site showed him stumbling out, bloodied and dazed, screaming in Gujarati, “Plane fatyo che!” (The plane exploded).