On June 12, the whole world saw him walk away, alone, from the burning wreckage of the crashed AI 171 flight from Ahmedabad to London’s Gatwick. There was black smoke billowing out of the Air India flight, its tail end sticking out of a building where it had crashed, and, on the ground, this man in a white tee and grey trousers, walking with a slight limp, and repeating over and over again, “Plane fatyo che ! Plane fatyo che ! (The plane has exploded!)”
He was the lone survivor. There were 242 on board that flight — 230 passengers and 12 crew members; 241 of them were dead, some charred beyond recognition. How could anyone walk out of that wreckage? This was a miracle to beat all miracles — an outcome only a very benign God could have ordained.
And yet, a little over four and a half months later, when we meet Viswashkumar Ramesh, the 39-year-old lone crash survivor, he looks crushed and depressed, hardly someone who has beaten impossible odds and survived. What he is left with now is the struggle of picking up the pieces; but it’s a task for which he says he is yet to receive the help he needs, from the airline and the govt of UK, the country of his citizenship.
We are in Leicester, UK, at the residence of Sanjiv Patel, a community leader. A silver Volvo SUV pulls up, and Viswash gets off. He lives nearby, but walking has been an issue ever since he jumped — or fell? — off the burning plane. Because of his mobility issues, he has also stopped driving. So, Patel — who is voluntarily helping the family — has organised for his pickup.
‘Completely Broken Down’
Viswash hobbles into the room. He looks like a broken man, dazed, unable to focus or fully engage, morose, a haunted man.
“After this tragedy — not just my wife and son — my whole family is all completely broken down. Me — physically, mentally — and my family also,” he says.
On the plane, Viswash had been seated in 11A, next to the emergency exit. His younger brother, Ajaykumar, was in seat 11J. He was among the 241 who died. Viswash spent a few days in hospital, and then went back to Diu, where he is originally from. The two brothers used to run a fishing business there. While in Diu, Viswash underwent medical treatment at Rajkot.
He came back to the UK on Sept 15 to get on with his medical treatment under NHS (the British medical service, which is free for all citizens) and to be with his wife Hiral and four-year-old son Divang, who’s just started school. However, he has not yet seen any doctor in the NHS nor received any psychiatric treatment or counselling in the UK.
It is immediately clear that weighing heavily against the relief of his miraculous escape is the lingering grief for his brother’s death and the psychological trauma of having survived a crash in which everyone else on board died. Ever since he came back, he has spent most of his time holed up in his two-bedroom terraced house, hardly ever stepping out.
Ask him what it feels like to be a miraculous survivor, and he goes silent. Then he says, “I lost my younger brother.”
Getting On A Plane, Again
Just getting back to the UK was a challenge. “It was very difficult to get on an aeroplane.” He did not fly Air India and took another carrier instead. “I was very scared. I just closed my eyes and prayed to my God.
“I don’t talk with my son and wife. I just keep sitting in my room alone. Because of the tragedy, whole flashbacks come to me.
“My son doesn’t speak much, he is just four years old, he doesn’t understand much of what has happened, just a little bit. My wife is struggling. My shoulder, back, knee, left side are burning — there is still pain in my body. I walk slowly. I have not gone outside of the house much. I am not walking properly. I can’t drive. Mentally, I have completely broken down,” he says.
“The fishing business has completely gone down. Me and my brother (Ajay) were doing it together. After this tragedy it is almost finished. My father is trying, but struggling,” Viswash says.
Can he get back to his old life? “I don’t know,” he says.
Early Days In Leicester
His parents moved to the UK about 25 years ago. His father, Ramesh, set up a garments business in Leicester. Viswash, who was born in Diu, moved to the UK when he was around 14. “I came to Leicester with my parents to start studying. Then, after a few years, I started to support my family in the garments business,” he says.
However, the family wound up the UK clothing business during Covid and reinvested their money in a fishing venture in Diu. The entire extended family in Diu and Leicester were deriving their income from that business, which, Vishwas claims, had been growing steadily.
Viswash and Ajay were the two key people who were hands-on in running the venture. They would spend eight to nine months in Diu and, then, around the time the fishing season ended, they would come back to the UK for three months and spend time with their families in Leicester.
Then their world fell apart. Ramesh, Viswash, and his two other younger brothers — Nayankumar and Sunnykumar — tried to run it for a while after the crash, from Diu, but it proved impossible. Viswash was too traumatised to leave his Diu house. The fishermen themselves needed income and, after the crash, the family’s boats couldn’t operate for a while, so the fishermen went to look for other work. The business has virtually collapsed now.
With Almost No Income Now
Air India has offered Viswash an interim payment of £21,500 (Rs 25 lakh) — the same payment it is offering the families of those who died in the crash. The interim payment will be adjusted against any final compensation.
With Patel, in whose house we are meeting, is Radd Seiger, a retired lawyer and crisis and reputation management specialist. Patel, by profession, is a career coach, board adviser and leadership trainer. The two of them have voluntarily stepped in to help Viswash’s family. They claim both Air India and the British govt have failed Viswash. They claim the compensation offered is nowhere near enough given his complex needs.
Viswash has almost no income now. To make matters worse, his wife’s Universal Credit (UK welfare benefit) was stopped because she travelled to India for two months after the crash. Universal Credit is a UK govt-funded benefit for working-age people on a low income or unemployed. It is paid as a single monthly payment.
Asked about the stoppage of his wife’s payments, a UK govt spokesperson said, “People travelling abroad due to a bereavement can continue receiving Universal Credit for up to two months, rather than the standard one-month limit. Those who are abroad for longer periods would not be able to continue receiving the benefit. People can make a new claim once they return to the UK.”
Viswash says, “£21,000 is nothing. I stay in the UK. I pay mortgage….”
“Before, it was different — my life was going very smoothly and nice. Now, it’s completely ruined. I feel I have changed. After this plane crash, I am not meeting many people, not talking. I just stay in my room alone,” says Viswash.
Even though he came back to the UK to spend time with his wife and son, he admits, “I am not spending much time with him.”
‘Situation Is Desperate’
“Viswash is still suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder,” says Patel. “He is doing these interviews very reluctantly. He had some treatment in India, but the NHS is not geared up for expedited care. The whole family is traumatised. We have interacted with Air India to say we need to talk about this so they get to understand their circumstances and they have not been willing to have that conversation. The situation is desperate.”
Seiger says, “This is the sole survivor of a major aviation disaster. If ever there was a case for the (Air India) CEO to come and meet personally with the sole survivor, this is it. We have issued that invite to the CEO via our solicitors to their lawyers three times and got nowhere.”
He was the lone survivor. There were 242 on board that flight — 230 passengers and 12 crew members; 241 of them were dead, some charred beyond recognition. How could anyone walk out of that wreckage? This was a miracle to beat all miracles — an outcome only a very benign God could have ordained.
And yet, a little over four and a half months later, when we meet Viswashkumar Ramesh, the 39-year-old lone crash survivor, he looks crushed and depressed, hardly someone who has beaten impossible odds and survived. What he is left with now is the struggle of picking up the pieces; but it’s a task for which he says he is yet to receive the help he needs, from the airline and the govt of UK, the country of his citizenship.
We are in Leicester, UK, at the residence of Sanjiv Patel, a community leader. A silver Volvo SUV pulls up, and Viswash gets off. He lives nearby, but walking has been an issue ever since he jumped — or fell? — off the burning plane. Because of his mobility issues, he has also stopped driving. So, Patel — who is voluntarily helping the family — has organised for his pickup.
‘Completely Broken Down’
Viswash hobbles into the room. He looks like a broken man, dazed, unable to focus or fully engage, morose, a haunted man.
“After this tragedy — not just my wife and son — my whole family is all completely broken down. Me — physically, mentally — and my family also,” he says.
On the plane, Viswash had been seated in 11A, next to the emergency exit. His younger brother, Ajaykumar, was in seat 11J. He was among the 241 who died. Viswash spent a few days in hospital, and then went back to Diu, where he is originally from. The two brothers used to run a fishing business there. While in Diu, Viswash underwent medical treatment at Rajkot.
He came back to the UK on Sept 15 to get on with his medical treatment under NHS (the British medical service, which is free for all citizens) and to be with his wife Hiral and four-year-old son Divang, who’s just started school. However, he has not yet seen any doctor in the NHS nor received any psychiatric treatment or counselling in the UK.
It is immediately clear that weighing heavily against the relief of his miraculous escape is the lingering grief for his brother’s death and the psychological trauma of having survived a crash in which everyone else on board died. Ever since he came back, he has spent most of his time holed up in his two-bedroom terraced house, hardly ever stepping out.
Ask him what it feels like to be a miraculous survivor, and he goes silent. Then he says, “I lost my younger brother.”
Getting On A Plane, Again
Just getting back to the UK was a challenge. “It was very difficult to get on an aeroplane.” He did not fly Air India and took another carrier instead. “I was very scared. I just closed my eyes and prayed to my God.
“I don’t talk with my son and wife. I just keep sitting in my room alone. Because of the tragedy, whole flashbacks come to me.
“My son doesn’t speak much, he is just four years old, he doesn’t understand much of what has happened, just a little bit. My wife is struggling. My shoulder, back, knee, left side are burning — there is still pain in my body. I walk slowly. I have not gone outside of the house much. I am not walking properly. I can’t drive. Mentally, I have completely broken down,” he says.
“The fishing business has completely gone down. Me and my brother (Ajay) were doing it together. After this tragedy it is almost finished. My father is trying, but struggling,” Viswash says.
Can he get back to his old life? “I don’t know,” he says.
Early Days In Leicester
His parents moved to the UK about 25 years ago. His father, Ramesh, set up a garments business in Leicester. Viswash, who was born in Diu, moved to the UK when he was around 14. “I came to Leicester with my parents to start studying. Then, after a few years, I started to support my family in the garments business,” he says.
However, the family wound up the UK clothing business during Covid and reinvested their money in a fishing venture in Diu. The entire extended family in Diu and Leicester were deriving their income from that business, which, Vishwas claims, had been growing steadily.
Viswash and Ajay were the two key people who were hands-on in running the venture. They would spend eight to nine months in Diu and, then, around the time the fishing season ended, they would come back to the UK for three months and spend time with their families in Leicester.
Then their world fell apart. Ramesh, Viswash, and his two other younger brothers — Nayankumar and Sunnykumar — tried to run it for a while after the crash, from Diu, but it proved impossible. Viswash was too traumatised to leave his Diu house. The fishermen themselves needed income and, after the crash, the family’s boats couldn’t operate for a while, so the fishermen went to look for other work. The business has virtually collapsed now.
With Almost No Income Now
Air India has offered Viswash an interim payment of £21,500 (Rs 25 lakh) — the same payment it is offering the families of those who died in the crash. The interim payment will be adjusted against any final compensation.
With Patel, in whose house we are meeting, is Radd Seiger, a retired lawyer and crisis and reputation management specialist. Patel, by profession, is a career coach, board adviser and leadership trainer. The two of them have voluntarily stepped in to help Viswash’s family. They claim both Air India and the British govt have failed Viswash. They claim the compensation offered is nowhere near enough given his complex needs.
Viswash has almost no income now. To make matters worse, his wife’s Universal Credit (UK welfare benefit) was stopped because she travelled to India for two months after the crash. Universal Credit is a UK govt-funded benefit for working-age people on a low income or unemployed. It is paid as a single monthly payment.
Asked about the stoppage of his wife’s payments, a UK govt spokesperson said, “People travelling abroad due to a bereavement can continue receiving Universal Credit for up to two months, rather than the standard one-month limit. Those who are abroad for longer periods would not be able to continue receiving the benefit. People can make a new claim once they return to the UK.”
Viswash says, “£21,000 is nothing. I stay in the UK. I pay mortgage….”
“Before, it was different — my life was going very smoothly and nice. Now, it’s completely ruined. I feel I have changed. After this plane crash, I am not meeting many people, not talking. I just stay in my room alone,” says Viswash.
Even though he came back to the UK to spend time with his wife and son, he admits, “I am not spending much time with him.”
‘Situation Is Desperate’
“Viswash is still suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder,” says Patel. “He is doing these interviews very reluctantly. He had some treatment in India, but the NHS is not geared up for expedited care. The whole family is traumatised. We have interacted with Air India to say we need to talk about this so they get to understand their circumstances and they have not been willing to have that conversation. The situation is desperate.”
Seiger says, “This is the sole survivor of a major aviation disaster. If ever there was a case for the (Air India) CEO to come and meet personally with the sole survivor, this is it. We have issued that invite to the CEO via our solicitors to their lawyers three times and got nowhere.”
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